


Make it Irish, Please

by illbefinealone



Series: Robusta Café [1]
Category: Bandom, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Bakery and Coffee Shop, Finito did you like, I Was Drunk When I Wrote This, I have No Excuse, M/M, does anyone else even ship brikey it's just me isn't it, forever writing brikey like a looser, i'm about three quarters done with this more will be up soon, the characters you don't see will soon show up i swear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-26
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-05-03 11:57:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5289803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/illbefinealone/pseuds/illbefinealone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A coffee shop AU in which Patrick Stump is not allergic to cats, matter of fact, he owns one.</p>
<p>After deciding that there’s no good coffee in all of Chicago, Patrick decides to open his own, quality coffee house. For baristas, he recruits Brendon and Mikey who are a gift and a curse to have around.</p>
<p>As he starts settling down into the routine he’s had for the last two months, things start to change. For better, or for worse?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>[Patrick owns a coffee shop and Pete becomes a regular with a different order every time. Only one demand stands for every coffee Patrick makes for him, a demand Patrick can’t meet: a bit of booze in it.</p>
<p>Or,</p>
<p>Pete, who is incredibly good for business, is trying to get himself a Patrick and a drinking problem. And Patrick, who isn’t up for dating anyone, is determined to stop the drinking before it becomes a problem. Also, coffee, heart eyes, Brikey and Josh Dun who is out of this world.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

> First AU. First long fic. Might be shit. Any feedback is welcomed.
> 
> All my knowledge about coffee comes from Google results and stuff we learned in Italian class (my professor was a mess on legs, so I had to look things up). After approximately six centuries in the Ottoman Empire we drink mostly Turkish coffee in my country, if some things aren’t right, feel free to call me out, I’d love to fix it.
> 
> For the first time I feel the need to emphasize that this is all fabricated, a product of my imagination. It’s probably the word count that makes me say that.
> 
> This will be posted in several parts because I'm a lazy fuck and I need motivation to finish it.
> 
>  
> 
> If you have any questions, even in the middle of reading this, feel free to ask on my tumblr: illbefinealone. I’ll try to keep it spoiler-free.
> 
> *Joel McHale voice* Anyway…… ENJOY.

It’s been two months since Patrick opened the coffee shop and he already has regulars.

He opened the shop the right way. He acquired a location that gets lots of traffic. He got experienced baristas. He got the quality coffee beans, only the best of each type. He made a deal with the bakery few blocks over to exchange product and spread the word for each other. He offers Wi-Fi and a selection of magazines and books that rest in the corner. He thought of everything, he was making a list for a month before he gave his two weeks notice and started organizing this.

He used to be a stock broker, making more money than he could possibly spend and he knew it all along. He knew that one day he would get tired of the rushes and the people yelling and all the noise and he would find something else, somewhere also hectic, just not too hectic, some job where there’s still noise, but it’s dialed down to something that would not give him headaches. He knew that one day he would crave a job in which if he screws up, he can try again without getting fired.

If you fuck up an order in a coffee shop you lose a dollar, dollar and a half. If you fuck up at the stock exchange you lose millions. A dollar is pressure that Patrick can take, ten million dollars is the pressure that introduced a sleeping pill each night in his regimen.

It dawned on him one morning, in the coffee shop where he used to get his coffee before work. It was a shitty cup of coffee; three dollars for something that resembled coffee, only watered down… with maybe a ton of water. He needed something quality for a change.

And sometimes, you gotta make it happen for yourself.

So off he went, cooking up a plan that will make him happy and yes, maybe he’s risking almost everything, but that is not the point. The point is finding something that will satisfy his spirits.

Being a barista in the coffee shop he owns, and spending his days making coffee and mingling will people is tiring, yes. But it’s not as nearly as tiring as his previous job. Besides, this is full-filling, at least no one’s yelling at him.

 

*

 

There are two baristas that work in Patrick’s ‘Robusta Café’ and both of them can charm a tip out of anyone. Patrick can’t, he really can’t. He hasn’t tried either. He never saw himself as charming enough to be able to do it.

The first person he hired is Mikey, a recruit from the coffee shop where Patrick had the revelation. Mikey was the only person that took notice when Patrick wasn’t okay that morning, they chatted for a while and he basically helped Patrick back up that day, psychologically speaking. So the next day Patrick went back to the shop and waited till Mikey was on break to say something in the line of “I’m sick of awful coffee, I’ve decided to open a coffee house. Would you work with me?” to which he was answered with, “I don’t even care about the pay, as long as you don’t make a rule to re-use coffee grounds.” And the magic has been happening since.

Brendon was the second barista he hired, one of the few people that actually answered Patrick’s add in the paper. He waited for Brendon to travel to Chicago from the East Coast just because he was most qualified of all the people that called. After three long phone interviews Brendon got the job and then packed and moved in Patrick’s new neighborhood, Patrick also helped him find an apartment with a reasonable price.

Brendon has six years at random indie coffee places around New York behind him, he’s been working since the age of seventeen and he was the one that taught Patrick how to use all the machines, how to do everything really. Since their first phone meeting, about two weeks before the opening, they have become best friends. Brendon being new in town and Patrick having left everyone he knew behind, including a relationship he thought was the real deal, they both needed it.

The three of them are a team now – it’s them against shitty and corporate Starbucks, the trust between those three at the highest of high. Patrick relies on them fully, he allowed them to do the ‘menu’, if you can call it that, he consults about quality, and he checks with them if he gets some recipes confused which happens all the time.

Today serves like an example.

 

*

 

The shop opens ten minutes late today, because Patrick overslept. He was talking to his mom on the phone till one in the morning, because of time-difference she will not feel it, now that she is taking a tour of Europe. Patrick however, is used to going to bed bit before one and waking up at six thirty, not quarter past seven, after not being able to fall asleep for hours.

His mom shared too much of her Europe experience. She told him way too explicit storied. Patrick isn’t her best girlfriend with whom she can have a glass of white wine and gossip about… coitus.

Mikey is waiting for him when he arrives in front of the shop and opening is easier because he is there, the gate can be a little tricky sometimes. Patrick apologizes and promises that it won’t happen again, and Mikey shrugs it off, because it’s not a big deal. So he stood in the cold for two minutes, not a problem. It’s nothing compared to that time he waited for his brother for an hour in the middle of a blizzard while his brother was reading comics. He forgave the hour, two minutes are nothing.

Mikey usually takes the morning shift, while Brendon is happy to work the rest of the day, as long as he can sleep till eleven. But that isn’t a constant either. Mikey has problems falling asleep sometimes and Brendon is more than happy to switch places for a day or two. That’s one of the reasons why Patrick suspects that those two have a thing of one another, though.

Their shifts overlap for three hours, Brendon comes in at one and Mikey leaves after four, after the rush hour of college and high-school students is over. And Patrick works all day long, a habit that won’t die out, no matter how much his baristas try to get him to sit down and rest for those two hours. He will not.

And he sees little movements while they’re working, he hears some phrases that aren’t commonly used and he connects some dots. Even when they’re arguing or picking at each other it seems that way, and they’re picking at each other almost always.

He isn’t sure if they know it yet, though, and he does not plan on saying anything. He is just grateful that they put up with his neatness all of the time, his clumsiness sometimes, and with his cluelessness most of the time.

Mikey is surprised at how lost Patrick is today, it’s incredibly unusual and he is expecting for things to start falling from Patrick’s hands. But Patrick is determined not to let it happen, he holds the mop tightly, he carries the new bag of Arabica beans with both hands for a change, he is incredibly careful while pouring the milk. It’s just one of those days.

What Mikey isn’t surprised at is the fact that Patrick can’t remember some of the drinks today. After all of his behavior this morning, it’s no wonder that he can’t recall what Black Eye is.

The thing is: Patrick really needs his six hours, okay? And he really needs to wake up at six also. He is a bitch without his waffles or granola. Having to have breakfast, then take a shower, dress, and leave for work in fifteen minutes is impossible. That’s why he gets up an hour and a half early. That’s why he wants to drop dead today. He just needs fiber in his diet.

They haven’t been open for an hour when the first order Patrick doesn’t understand comes. It comes from a not-so-tall guy with bleached blonde hair and a serious facial expression.

“Café con gielo with three sugars and a shot of whiskey, small cup to go,” Patrick hears it clearly but he can’t make without asking what it is.

Patrick’s eyes linger on the guy’s features before he answers. There’s just something about the stranger, like they’ve met, or maybe it’s the way he said his order. Maybe it was his voice? Patrick can’t point it out. He just knows that it resembles a magnetic force, the positive end of a magnet. And Patrick is the negative end, for sure.

“I’m sorry, we don’t serve alcohol in any of our drinks,” Patrick apologizes and starts observing the man’s appearance once again. He doesn’t notice that he’s staring until the man on his opposite raises an eyebrow.

“Without it then,” the man says, eyeing Patrick back.

Patrick turns behind the counter and walks to Mikey, pretending he’s taking a cup when in fact he needs to be reminded and he’s rushing to ask.

“Espresso and ice,” Mikey says in a whisper, without even being asked, “Some people call it iced coffee, others like getting fancy,” he adds, turning to take a look at this man that knows enough of Italian to order a drink at a coffee house in the middle of Chicago.

“Thanks,” Patrick mouths back and gets to work, but not before Mikey shares an opinion.

“He’s cute.”

Patrick shrugs and hurries to get the order done, trying his best not to think about Mikey’s remark because he, in fact, agrees. He tries not to think about it for the rest of the day as well… which is close to impossible.

Yes, the man is cute, but after his last experience, Patrick isn’t ready for anyone to be cute. Cuteness broke his heart by banging the neighbor.

Patrick tries his best to hold it together, but he’s a bit off all day long. Mikey follows, and/or carefully observes all of his movements, making sure Patrick won’t just break right there. With four hours of sleep and zero caffeine he’s about to do something stupid. Even Andy is concerned.

Andy is the guy who delivers for the bakery shop and sees Patrick for around ten minutes a day. He sometimes spends his break mingling with whoever is free for a chat. Today, he decides to spend his break talking with Mikey about Patrick’s behavior. They are friends yes, great friends, in fact; but it’s still a bit rude to point out someone’s flaws in front of that person.

“His rhythm is bit off today,” Mikey informs Andy who nods in response.

“That isn’t true,” Patrick intervenes in their conversation, earning an angry look from both.

“Andy ordered a cup of Long,” Mikey says to Patrick, trying to prove a point, “How do you make one?”

Patrick looks everywhere except at Mikey. He knows this, he should know it, he made one two days ago for that girl that comes in at least once a week and always flirts with Brendon, while someone else takes her order. Why doesn’t he remember?

“It’s a slow morning, and you need to sit down for a while,” Andy says to Patrick, giving him a stern look until Patrick steps out from behind the counter and walks to the chair next to Andy.

“Life saver,” Mikey says to Andy before he starts making Andy’s cup.

Andy is the nicest of all the people Patrick has met in his life. He will hear you out at any given moment and he will give you the best advice. He is very scary to people who don’t know him though, the tattoos and the ‘all black, other colors don’t exist’ wardrobe. All one needs to fall in love with Andy is to ask a simple question and then listen to him talk.

“So, what’s with you?” Andy asks Patrick, his eyes waiting for any tell, any sign.

“My mom called last night,” Patrick tries to explain.

“She’s in Barcelona this week, right?” Mikey chips in.

“Yes, and she met some man. She casually slipped sex stories in the conversation and then falling asleep was a struggle, as I had a horror show before my eyes,” Patrick lets it out and feels calmer already… well, a small tad calmer.

It’s good that two thirds of his friends aren’t laughing at this. The third one will – Patrick is certain that Brendon will crack up right away.

“You need to take it slow this morning, everyone’s at work already so there’s not a big crowd at this hour,” Andy advices, looking at Patrick with a splash of worry in his eyes.

“How about I make you some thyme tea, and you take a cup to the back room, lie down, or just rest your legs,” Mikey suggests, trying to charm Patrick into doing so, much like he talks a tip out of customers, “Relax a little, you’re too stressed, like a ball of negative energy.”

“I can’t sleep while on work,” Patrick tries to protest, but he meets two pairs of disapproving eyes on the other end of the conversation.

“You’re practically living here,” Mikey almost snaps at him, “All you do is work. What is the last time you even went out? You need to move on from that asshole. Go on a date!”

The asshole Mikey is referring to is Jesse, Patrick’s ex. Patrick thought they were having a great relationship until he told him that he’s quitting his job and starting his business. Then Jesse answered to Patrick’s pursue of happiness by kicking him out of the apartment along with the cat that Jesse wanted, even though Patrick is more of a dog person. Jesse then informed him that the guy across the hall is the reason why he has been so tired lately.

But of course that was happening behind Patrick’s back. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

Patrick then felt like shit for thinking Jesse was the one, Patrick spent the month before the break-up fantasizing about marriage, and actually window shopping engagement and/or wedding rings. It’s been almost three months since then; he isn’t ready to go on any dates, with anyone, not even a lunch meeting with his coffee bean supplier who’s been dying to meet up.

They’ve spent hours on the phone and have met just once, Hayley is a pleasant lady, it’s just, Patrick isn’t in the mood to chat up a storm about himself, like she always asks him to. He’d rather stay away from all the sad details of his past and focus on a hopefully less sad future.

“I will, the same day you do,” Patrick retorts, the perfect reply for this moment.

So okay, everyone that works in the shop is scoring negative thirty in the love-life section. Mikey also came out of a long relationship that was pretty poisonous, he never planned on becoming a victim of mental abuse after four months of paradise.

And Brendon’s character is stopping him from having relationships that last longer than a month, he’s bisexual and he’s very indecisive, his mind is never on two chairs, rather five or six, so that is mission impossible. It’s a gathering of messes, but it recently turned out that they all needed to be gathered and that fate isn’t always a bitch-acha.

Mikey grimaces at Patrick’s words while Andy spreads a smile across his lips.

“How you did not see that coming is beyond me,” Andy speaks to Mikey and Patrick tilts his head, trying to stop a satisfied smirk.

 

*

 

If you ask about it, Patrick will deny it, but he did take a nap on the couch in the back room.

He isn’t sure why they have a couch there though. A back-up, maybe… Yes, that’s what it is.

It’s an old couch, very old; Patrick bought it second hand or maybe even third hand from the lady on the fifth floor, back when he was still living with Jesse. It looked too comfy and it screamed ‘like me, take me, I will give you warm couch hugs’, and he was sold.

It was an impulse buy that he miraculously underpaid for before he realized he had no where to put it. And of course there was a fight over the couch, but none of that matters now because he fought about it with someone who’s no longer important.

When he found a suitable apartment to rent, it came furnished and the couch was still unnecessary. It ended up in the coffee shop, for emergencies such as this one.

Patrick got up before Brendon’s shift began and that gave him enough time to warn Mikey not to say anything about the nap, or the coitus story.

Brendon just happened to be grumpy that day too, easily irritated and ready to snap at anyone and he didn’t want to say why. It’s just a random coincidence.

So Mikey stayed overtime, making sure those two don’t start yelling or crying in the middle of the shop, both of them both acting and feeling like pricks.

‘Robusta Café’ closes at midnight on Saturdays (Patrick, however makes Brendon or Mikey, whoever took the afternoon shift to leave early), and at ten during the rest of the week. He has about fifteen minutes by foot from the shop to the apartment.

Not having enough time to go out isn’t the reason why Patrick doesn’t go out. It’s because he doesn’t want to. Going out is for young people and Patrick is in the second half of his twenties, no longer a young person. That’s the excuse he gives whenever he is asked, when in fact, he just doesn’t want to.

He closes the shop and heads back home, hoping that today never repeats itself.

As he unlocks the door he spots Tyler, his upstairs neighbor, and they chat for a while before he invites him to come to the shop for a cup of coffee some day. Tyler always promises he will and then doesn’t.

Tyler is a great neighbor. He is an art student and he is always covered in paint, in a geeky and adorable fashion. He never plays loud music and he doesn’t make a lot of noise. Usually when noise comes from his apartment, it’s the middle of the night and it’s the sound of a can hitting the ground followed by a silent, and a very disappointed curse word.

What worries Patrick is that he has never seen Tyler having people over. Patrick has people over sometimes: his mom comes on weekends and Brendon crashes on his couch from time to time when he gets lonely in his own empty apartment.

Patrick hasn’t witnessed Tyler getting visited by anyone, except for Mario, Patrick’s cat, but that’s a whole different thing. Patrick really tries not to worry too much about it.

 

*

 

The next morning is a full house like no other. Never before have there been so many people, suits, skirts, hoodies and yoga pants, all mixed in one place. They’re already out of blueberry muffins, and the brownies are also running low, the ones with the white chocolate chunks are the only type left. They’re even out of vanilla ice-cream for the Affogato. Patrick calls the bakery, ordering more because the hungry high-schoolers still haven’t arrived.

By ten thirty, when the crowd dials down, both Patrick and Brendon are ready to go home for the day. It was just too tiring of a morning.

Brendon felt guilty that Mikey stayed the whole day yesterday because of him, so he decided to apologize by giving Mikey the morning. Now, he regrets it a little and he can’t wait until his shift is over. He needs his bed.

Patrick is in the back, scooping coffee beans into the bowl with Mexican coffee. The Mexican beans were asked for the most and they need to re-stock with new ones. The door is slightly open, in case another crowd comes and Brendon needs saving. Brendon needs saving a lot; he can be mean at times.

A familiar voice saying hello is what keeps Patrick hidden behind the semi-open door of the back room. It’s the mysterious guy from yesterday, he knows because he made a mental note about the fellow’s voice; it’s quite memorable actually.

“How may I help you?” Brendon asks the man.

“Is the guy with the fedora at work?” the voice asks and Patrick’s heart almost stops.

“I will get him for you,” Brendon’s voice seems cheery and Patrick really hates that. He can hear Brendon’s footsteps coming closer and he thinks it’s better if he walks out before Brendon comes, but his feet won’t let him, “There’s a guy asking for you.” Brendon says to him as soon as he walks in.

“Blonde?” Patrick asks and Brendon finally sees where he’s standing, “Almost the same height as me?”

“Yes. What are you doing?” Brendon asks in a whisper, as if this is a game and he wants to play along.

“Making sure we have Mexican beans at the front,” Patrick offers a lie as an excuse. He made sure of the re-fill two minutes ago, he now needs to take the bowl his hugging and place it near the grinder.

“I meant, what are you doing behind the door? And if you filled that one, why don’t you take it up front?” Brendon asks again and Patrick interrupts him before he could ask the question that Patrick can’t answer yet.

“I was just about to,” Patrick takes a step forward.

“Who is that guy?”

“I don’t know,” Patrick rolls his eyes as his plan of distracting Brendon with an answer hasn’t worked. It never works, yet Patrick keeps trying.

“He’s cute in an angry way. Don’t keep him waiting,” Brendon smirks, happy that his teasing is a success.

Patrick takes a deep breath before he walks out of the room, rushing towards the counter, hoping that he doesn’t seem too eager or too reserved and scared. It’s always one of those two options with him.

“What can I get you?” Patrick offers a shy smile as he finally unglues himself from the bowl. He walks the few steps that separate him from the place where the mystery man is standing on the other side of the counter, with much nervousness. One simply doesn’t know what to expect.

“A large Americano, five sugars and a shot of rum,” the man says.

“As I told you yesterday, we don’t serve alcohol in any drinks,” Patrick tries to smile nonchalantly and ponders if he was successful at it, or not.

“I’m just checking,” the man offers a smile back. Patrick is taken aback by the smile, and he can tell that the surprise is visible on his face. He can see, in the corner of his eye, there’s Brendon holding back a laugh as he pretends his wiping the surfaces of the tables. Patrick has a sudden need to throw something at Brendon, maybe a shoe, or both, “Can you leave the lid off, please?”

“No problem,” Patrick nods and he starts making the coffee, he does remember the recipes today. Don’t think too much about the customer and concentrate on the drink, Patrick repeats in his head as he prepares the espresso and the hot water. Once the coffee is ready he leaves it in front of the guy, the lid next to the cup and he looks up from the counter, “A dollar even,” he says.

He watches as the man in front of him reaches into his left inner pocket and pulls out a flask. This man is determined to make this coffee Irish. He pours a generous amount into the coffee and gives it a mix with a straw he grabs from the holder in front of him.

The man leaves a ten dollar bill on the counter before he closes the Styrofoam cup.

“Nice hat,” he offers Patrick another smirk, “Keep the change.”

Patrick keeps staring at the empty space the man leaves as he walks out of the shop. He just got a nine hundred percent tip from a cute guy who liked his fedora. He must be hallucinating, what’s on top of his head barely ever makes an impression on people.

“Earth to Stump,” Brendon waves a hand before Patrick’s eyes.

“That guy is weird,” Patrick manages to say, now watching as this man walks away from the shop and sips on his drink.

“So? He’s a tipper,” Brendon shrugs and reaches for the bill. Patrick continues standing there staring through the windows and trying to figure the mystery out. And while that’s happening, Brendon takes care of the receipt and slides the change into Patrick’s tip jar.

Patrick is bothered by this man’s behavior mainly because he isn’t used to people being nice for no reason. It’s not mandatory to be nice to your cashiers, baristas and other kinds of sales persons; it’s recommended, but not obligatory. And when you’re shopping you don’t ask for a specific person to reach out for a certain product, you settle for the first one you see. Why did this person ask for him?

He shakes it all out of his head once people start coming in the shop in larger and larger quantities. Mikey comes in on time to help, but not even the three of them can make all that coffee in such a small period of time.

The place is packed for the rest of the day. Patrick decides that if business keeps going so smoothly during the next week, he might need to hire few more people.


	2. Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you have part two... I'm gonna finish this guys, I promise.

 

After two days the crowd dials down. Not completely, just to a number that two people in one shift can handle, kind of. It dials down enough so no one can protest and make Brendon get to work when he comes in ten minutes early so they can chat. They can handle it, there’s no philosophy; they can talk while pouring coffee into mugs.  
  
“I know something you don’t know,” Brendon announces; the first thing he says. When he’s super-excited, ‘hello’ doesn’t exist in his vocabulary. And guess today is one of those days.  
  
Both Mikey and Patrick look at him in pure annoyance. This is the way in which the conversations Brendon starts usually begin, he starts and then stops without any sign of that happening. He’s unpredictable, but that’s what makes him Brendon and they love him for it.  
  
“What is it this time?” Mikey rolls his eyes, earning a light punch in the arm which Patrick still identifies with flirting.  
  
“I know why we’ve been so busy lately,” Brendon declares again, the smirk on his face wider.  
  
Mikey waits for Brendon to say something else, and Brendon waits for Patrick to focus on him. Patrick’s attention is luckily grasped by that statement, for the first time that morning he thinks about something other than how he hasn’t seen that inexplicable stranger in two days.  
  
Why hasn’t he come? Did Patrick mess up his order? Did Patrick do something wrong? Is it his fault at all?  
  
“I’m all ears,” Patrick says, passing the mug filled with black to the stranger who’s waiting with a smile on their face.  
  
“You know that ‘Doldrums of Chicago’ blog?” Brendon looks at his audience with the question echoing in his eyes.  
  
Patrick answers a shy ‘no’ at the same time as Mikey says ‘of course’. Patrick has no idea what Brendon’s talking about. It’s the first time he hears of such a blog.  
  
“How do you not know about the blog?” Brendon questions again, raising an eyebrow.  
  
Patrick shrugs, not saying anything. He doesn’t understand what the big deal is, really. So he doesn’t read a blog. He doesn’t read the newspaper either; no one’s giving him shit about that. What’s the deal with this blog?  
  
“You, a Chicago native doesn’t know about the most famous Chicago based blog, the second most read blog in all of the United States of America, as a matter of fact,” Mikey says, looking at Patrick with so much doubt that Patrick can’t take it and looks away, “but a guy from New Jersey, and a guy from Nevada do.”  
  
“I don’t know what you want me to say to that,” Patrick shakes his head.  
  
Instead of sticking to the subject of Patrick being clueless, Brendon just gets to the main point because of which he came in early. He almost never comes in early. He either is on time or five minutes late.  
  
And if they continue to discuss the wonder of a human that is Patrick, he will never be able to share the discovery he made.  
  
“I neglected it for a while, so last night I decided to catch myself up,” he says and then clears his throat, “So this person that writes it, said four posts ago,” Brendon says as he raises his phone to starts reading out loud, “and I quote, ‘Best coffee in town is that new Robusta Cafй next to the Bargain Book Shop. Best looking barista’s too. The brunette one that’s always singing, cutie,” Brendon shares a satisfied smile with his friends, “The blonde one with the glasses, even cuter,” he says and offers Mikey a high-five, “But the strawberry blonde one with the hat and the confusion in his eyes, he’s my poison’,” Brendon smirks at Patrick, “This person is a fan,” he adds and takes another pause, “Of you, mostly,” he speaks again and points at Patrick.  
  
“Confusion in his eyes,” Patrick mutters to himself. Okay, so there might be a new thing for him to obsess about.  
  
“I see how this person would pick you over me,” Brendon says to Mikey, reaching out to pinch his cheek. Mikey stays frozen in place, copying the behavior the blogger put down as typical for Patrick.  
  
“What is with you?” Mikey replies as he eyes Brendon from head to toe, “Since when are you not an egoist?”  
  
“Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,” Brendon mocks, making a face at Mikey who’s trying not to laugh. Brendon slides the phone back into his pocket, still staring at Mikey before saying “I’ll go put on my apron,” and walking away.  
  
Brendon rushes to the back room, letting his co-workers continue doing their job as he puts on his mandatory apron so he himself can get to work. Mikey carelessly gets back to work, ignoring the strangeness that’s simply oozing out of Patrick today and focusing on his own Brendon-related love pain.  
  
Patrick’s worry about the mystery man is replaced by another worry, about another mysterious person. And the worry he might get asked out soon. And another worry: he doesn’t want to be asked out soon, which isn’t okay. He can spend a lifetime without putting himself out there as he waits for the scars of the last relationship to heal.  
  
They say that the easiest way to get over someone is to get under someone else, but that’s never been the case with him.  
  
He needed nine months to go out on a date after his first relationship was over. He was dating this girl, Adelaide, back in his late teens. He realized he was gay when he developed a crush on her brother and couldn’t even start liking her, but he still waited for her to end it. And then he needed time to get over it.  
  
The same happened with her brother who was the first date after those nine months, who dumped Patrick after a month of sex, sex and even more sex, literally all the orgasms they could fit into that time period.  
  
When he thinks about it, Patrick’s never broken up with anyone; they all break up with him. It probably has something to do with how he doesn’t want to hurt anyone and how he’d rather be uncomfortable than cause someone pain.  
  
It’s a compulsion; it’s not a positive thing.  
  
And maybe, just maybe, Patrick has had enough of it being a compulsion, but he has yet to do anything about it.  
  
  
*  
  
  
‘Doldrums of Chicago, another brokenhearted clichй of a poet in the windy city,’ the title reads.  
  
It’s almost eleven and Patrick is spread out on the couch in his apartment, comfy in his pajamas with his hair still wet from the shower. He has his laptop on his knees, he’s decided to give the blog Brendon and Mikey were talking about a look-see. Most nights at Patrick’s are spent either watching the same TV shows over and over again, or listening to music while fighting the urge to avoid Mario, the cat he got in the break-up.  
  
The first night that Patrick and the cat got kicked out of the apartment was spent driving around Chicago, everything he owned, his whole life packed into that car, including the cat’s litter box. Desperately trying to find a hotel that allows pets, Patrick tried his best not to panic, but after three hours or mindless wandering, the only possible solution was to end up in Patrick’s mom’s house.  
  
He and the cat stayed in his old bedroom for a week. The home-cooked meals were a blessing, but the cat was a curse, a restless little creature that reminded him of his ex.  
  
Every time Patrick decided that he had enough and that the cat had to be taken to the pound, that freaking thing would crawl into his lap, settle in a position and start purring. He couldn’t. He still can’t.  
  
The cat gives him flashbacks, but the cat is also the only friend that stuck by him during that period, everyone else he knew just kind of went to condole with Jesse. He had no one, except the cat and his mom. A month later however he also had a coffee house and two employees who are now his best friends.  
  
The cat is spread out next to his feet, sleeping away a storm while Patrick is trying to focus on the blog; he started reading from the first post. This person that writes them basically journals their life in the city, their love life (multiple male and female partners), long nights partying and doing something stupid at each party or just sitting at home and fighting against self-destruction.  
  
The post he’s currently reading is a surprise to Patrick. This person talks how in a couple of weeks they’re going party that happened like five months ago, a party Patrick went to.  
  
Jesse had dragged him with, he took away his fedora so he can feel more vulnerable, and then, right about the time Patrick loosened up and started having fun Jesse insisted that they leave. Jesse claimed he had a headache and off Patrick went, to take care of his boyfriend, make him feel better. He hates himself because of that now.  
  
Patrick snaps out of his thoughts and goes back to the post.  
  
He feels like he knows this person: an ebullient bisexual insomniac with a colorful personality that’s battling depression. And he only went through the posts of the first month.  
  
He doesn’t get to the post about the party itself. He leaves it for tomorrow. It’s time for bed now.  
  
  
*  
  
  
The following day the coffee shop opens twenty minutes early, Patrick finishing preparations, enjoying a moment of calm when the only one waiting for a drink is Andy who just delivered more baked goods than Patrick has ever seen, real life and in his dreams. And Patrick was a chubby kid who thought about enormous amounts of brownies quite a lot.  
  
“I hear you got confusion in your eyes,” Andy smiles, reaching out for the mug of black he ordered.  
  
“You also know about that blog?” Patrick asks from behind the counter as he makes sure there’s enough milk in the mini-fridge he has hidden there.  
  
“I mean, I’ve known about it for a while, but I haven’t been reading it on a daily basis, like some people,” Andy says before he takes a sip, “Brendon told me.”  
  
“When did you see Brendon?” Patrick asks, wondering when and how Brendon managed to slip the subject of a blogger having a crush on Patrick into the conversation. What is Brendon thinking?  
  
“We talk on the phone all the time, he’s having some love issues,” Andy whispers out the last two words.  
  
“I suspect Mikey,” Patrick narrows his eyes, casually slipping a question into the conversation.  
  
“Yeah, he has a plan though,” Andy confirms, seconding it with a nod. Well if Brendon has a plan, than it can go wrong only on so many levels, “But we’re talking about you and this person. And the other mystery person too, the blonde guy, Brendon mentioned him too.”  
  
“I’m uncomfortable with how much Brendon is sharing about my life,” Patrick says flatly, before trying to change the subject, “How about you Andy? Are you seeing anyone?”  
  
“I have the hots for this guy that comes into the bakery at least once a week and I’m trying to get him to ask me out,” Andy admits right away, feeling as if he must compensate for the information he knows.  
  
“What’s his name?” Patrick asks again.  
  
“I don’t know yet. I just know that he’s in the publishing business, the other day he was getting a cake with a book cover on it for a client,” Andy shrugs, “Now, we’re back to talking about you.”  
  
“I don’t know anything,” Patrick responds.  
  
“About what?” they hear Mikey’s voice coming from the back of the store, nearing towards them.  
  
No one knew Mikey had arrived. Both Andy’s and Patrick’s initial thought wasn’t when did he come, but what did he hear. Did he hear Andy say that Brendon is in love with him? Because that isn’t the way he should find out. It’s better if it would come from Brendon himself.  
  
“When did you come in?” Patrick asks, looking at Mikey in surprise.  
  
“About ten minutes ago. You were counting crates, you basically walked right by me,” he points at Patrick, “and you were going through the books again, muttering to yourself,” Mikey points at Andy and smiles.  
  
“Why didn’t you say something?” Patrick protests.  
  
“I did, not my fault you didn’t listen,” he insists, “What are we talking about?”  
  
“The blog post,” Andy answers before Patrick can make up a lie to cover their asses. He doesn’t want to talk about it a lot, especially not now when he knows that he might remember this person from some party. He might recall seeing someone; he needs to read that post first, maybe it will jog his memory, “I need to go now, I’ll see you around one thirty, I’m taking my break then.”  
  
“That’s rush hour,” Mikey reminds him.  
  
“I know, I thought you could use some help,” Andy offers, already standing next to the chair where he was sitting and tugging his jacket off it, “I got nothing better to do anyway.”  
  
“I can’t let you do that,” Patrick objects. He’ll feel guilty if he lets Andy do such a thing. He can’t allow him to spend his break serving coffee to strangers, “unless you bring your own jar.”  
  
“What would I need a jar for?” Andy looks at him weirdly.  
  
Patrick thought it was obvious and that he didn’t need any more clarification, but looks like he does need to explain.  
  
“I pay thirteen dollars per hour, you gonna need the tips,” Patrick strays away from elongating, “We empty them on Sunday nights.”  
  
“I should quit and work for you,” Andy jokes and then stops himself because it’s true. He stares at Patrick for a couple of seconds before a reaction comes his way.  
  
“We’ll see how today goes,” Patrick winks at him.  
  
  
*  
  
  
The weather isn’t the best today. And as Valentines Day approaches, in exactly a week, it’s only getting worse. For some reason, Patrick has been feeling like if he survives Valentines Day, he can survive the rest of his life, matter of fact, he’ll be untouchable.  
  
Brendon has been bothering him about ‘doing something special’ for Valentines Day since the moment he walked into the shop today. It’s just Brendon living in a Brendon world, doing some Brendon things in an ordinary Brendon fashion.  
  
“I can make heart-shaped sugar cookies,” Brendon offers, talking to Patrick as he prepares a batch of French Pressed for the multiple Caffe au Lait they’re receiving. Everyone wants warm milky drinks to help them fight this cold.  
  
“Do you have the idea how much time those sugar cookies will take you?” Mikey meddles into the conversation to which Brendon grunts. Patrick is happy that Mikey wants to stop Brendon and his ideas; it means he isn’t alone in the fight.  
  
Brendon basically shoos Mikey away both with his hand and the judgmental stare, before he gets back to talking to Patrick.  
  
“Maybe we can get some from the bakery,” Patrick responds after a small pause when he actually considers it, “The amount of cookies needed isn’t something you can make and come rested at work the following day.”  
  
“Can I do decorations then?” Brendon asks again.  
  
“What’s so important about Valentines Day?” Mikey butts in again, wrapping an arm around Brendon’s waist. There are some mixed emotions for Brendon at that moment: half of him wants to reciprocate and the other half wants to yell.  
  
Instead, Brendon starts death-staring at Mikey again, and he continues until he can make Mikey feel prickly. Mikey has been through so many stare-contests, his experience with this gives him an advantage. And when he doesn’t get uncomfortable, Brendon is the one that gives up.  
  
“Shut up and go away,” Brendon hisses at Mikey. Brendon isn’t in love with how touchy-feely Mikey is being today. Mikey is never touchy-feely. Mikey is never up into anyone’s business. Why does he have to be today? Why does he have to be ruining Brendon’s plan?  
  
“I can’t, I need the coffee grounds you’re hogging,” Mikey smirks, “Also, Andy and his jar are here,” he adds, talking to Patrick this time.  
  
“Huh?” Brendon lets out a sigh.  
  
“Andy’s trial period is in the next hour,” Patrick notifies Brendon.  
  
“When did that happen?” Brendon questions.  
  
“It happened while you were asleep,” Mikey informs, tightening the hug he’s giving, “Can I get those coffee grounds now?”  
  
“Only if you get your hands off me,” Brendon warns and watches the smirk on Mikey’s face expand. Mikey even backs away a few steps, only so he can get the coffee.  
  
“Feel free to make all the decoration you wanna make,” Patrick agrees, looking at Brendon and pretending he is okay with it when in fact, he’s dying to know what the point of the decorations will be.  
  
“Can I get a fifteen dollar budget for the supplies?” Brendon asks.  
  
Patrick thought about doing something for Valentines, sure, making the cafй look festive or whatnot, but if Brendon volunteers, then Brendon should get all the responsibilities that come with the decorations. And the budget more than suits him, Patrick would need at least fifty to buy some decorations. This way the shop saves money AND the work will be done for him.  
  
“I’ll give you twenty, and you can go nuts, but under two conditions. One, they have to go up on Thursday and stay at least two days after Valentines. Two, you’ll put them up and take them down,” Patrick says, facing Brendon and trying to pull off the ‘strict boss’ charade he has to carry out every once in a while. This time, it’s for his advantage, he isn’t proud of it, but he now has one less chore and a thousand more to go. After he sees Brendon nodding, agreeing to the terms, Patrick takes a chance and adds, “Can you please get Andy an apron now?”  
  
“Sir, yessir,” Brendon says and chuckles before he rushes to the back room to get that apron.  
  
Patrick knows that Brendon is up to something, but he doesn’t dare ask what that ‘something’ is. It might be all just a scam to make Mikey jealous, now that he is certain that Brendon is in love. Or it might be a big gesture to profess his love. Actually ‘big’ doesn’t really exist in Brendon’s dictionary, however ‘huge’, ‘ginormous’ and ‘the biggest’ are accepted.  
  
Anyway, he is glad to have something scratched off his ‘to-do’ list.  
  
  
*  
  
  
It’s not long before Brendon is back and before they set Andy up with the basics.  
  
Andy is great with people. Patrick has always known this, but now he is certain of it as the magic happens in front of his eyes. Andy also knows how to use the machines and how to make a decent cup of coffee. Patrick isn’t sure if he picked it up from watching the guys, if he has experience or if he was just born a coffee god. The last option is the most likely one.  
  
And then something happens. Andy drops a latte to-go with the name ‘Henry’ written on it, and he kneels down to clean up the mess and Patrick rushes to help. This isn’t supposed to be happening in the middle of the huge crowd.  
  
“Stay there,” Andy says to Patrick just as he was preparing to fall on his knees and help him out, “You know that guy I told you about this morning?”  
  
“Yeah,” Patrick answers.  
  
“The tall guy with the curly hair, that’s him,” Andy whispers, grasping Brendon’s attention with the statement as well.  
  
Patrick’s eyes search the crowd, as casually, as innocently as possible. He doesn’t want to look weird, but at the same time he really wants to look. And he can’t believe what he’s seeing.  
  
“Fuck,” Patrick mutters, standing frozen, his eyes focused on the man Andy described and the person next to him.  
  
“What?” Andy asks, still wiping the spilled coffee off the floor. Spills can be a hazard, he isn’t hiding, and this is important business.  
  
“The blonde guy with him is Patrick’s mystery guy,” Brendon answers instead of Patrick who is too busy staring. Andy finishes cleaning as soon as possible and then raising up to his feet to take a look.  
  
“Fuck is the right word,” Andy agrees and follows the direction of Patrick’s eyes.  
  
Patrick is frozen because he believed he wasn’t going to see the blonde angry dude ever again after he didn’t show up for three days. Three days of pure agony, may Patrick add? He really wants to know this person’s name. He really wants to know everything about this person so he can then decide if dating him is a yes or a huge no-no. He must first find everything out and only then will he consider. He doesn’t want another Jesse situation.  
  
Damn, he must stop thinking about that asshole. He must stop bringing him up whenever an opportunity presents itself.  
  
“You know, there are a lot of people here and the three of you are just standing,” Mikey nudges Patrick with his elbow.  
  
“Don’t get your panties in a twist,” Brendon snaps at Mikey.  
  
“I can’t, I’m not wearing any underwear,” Mikey smirks as he winks at him, “Can you make that latte now?” he then asks, pointing at the cup in Andy’s hands.  
  
“You’re such a…” Brendon is lost of words. It’s not the first time this happens, but it is a rare occurrence.  
  
“Twat,” Mikey finishes the sentence instead of him, wondering where Brendon’s innovative and ‘heat of the moment’ insults disappeared as he watches Brendon’s silent nod.  
  
Mikey’s eyes then land on the two love-sick puppies that are still standing and staring in bewilderment. Mikey elbows Andy in the side, finally waking him up. Andy is the one that goes to take the order from the only customer that is familiar in the sea of faces.  
  
“You are the last person I thought I’d see here,” the man says to Andy who tries his best not to blush, “New job?”  
  
“We’ll see,” Andy says and smiles at the man, bending down on the counter for a better view.  
  
“You’re telling me I can stop making up excuses to go to the bakery?”  
  
“Excuses,” Andy raises an eyebrow.  
  
“You two continue flirting, I’ll go get my coffee from the hat-man,” Patrick’s mystery man says and walks away from the couple, rushing towards Patrick’s spot on the far end of the counter.  
  
“How can I help you?” Patrick plays nice and offers the shorter man a smile as he waits for an answer.  
  
“Today I feel like the largest flat white to-go you can make, with six sugars, a shot of whiskey and your penmanship on the cup,” the man smiles back at Patrick.  
  
“I assume you know by now that I can’t meet one of those demands,” Patrick finds himself saying, finally relaxing a bit in front of this perfect stranger.  
  
“I know,” the guy offers him a nod, “Just make it up to Mr. Darcy,” the then adds and Patrick’s hopes of learning his real name go down the drain along with the thought of maybe starting to flirt.  
  
Patrick swallows the need to ask if the man has an actual name or will this game be their thing as he hurries himself to get the coffee ready. He is somewhat disappointed of how easy it is for this visitor in his life to play with what he’s feeling. Where did that ‘strong and independent’ facade go?  
  
He writes “Mr. Darcy” on the cup and decides that “Say hi to Miss Bennet” doesn’t sound desperate, rather cute and teasing so he adds that in a smaller font.  
  
The problems with Patrick’s ‘quick, like taking off a bandage’ plan start right away.  
  
There is something about today though that screams ‘meant to be’. They’re out of espresso grounds and he has to get a bag from the back, which elongates the coffee making. Then the milk takes forever to get steamed. And they’re running low on sugars, so he needs to get that from the back. All of this under the watchful eye of a blonde guy with a smile that’s out of this world.  
  
Talk about nervousness.  
  
Once the coffee is finally ready he brings it over to the counter, greeted by the man’s satisfied smirk. Patrick left the lid off again, his gut didn’t let him cover it. And for a reason, when he gets a good look of the man he sees that the flask has made its triumphant return.  
  
“Mr. Darcy,” Patrick says, leaving the cup in front of the mystery guy.  
  
“Thank you, Mr. Great Hat but a Greater Ass,” the stranger replies and then pours some booze into the drink. He looks at Patrick’s writing on the styrofoam cup and smirks before he raises his eyes on the man before him. Score, the Bennet comment worked, “Question.”  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“Is there a spot in this cafй that I can occupy for all of your open hours tomorrow? Somewhere near an electrical outlet?” the man asks, making Patrick’s whole existence freeze.  
  
All open hours? Terrifying!  
  
“There’s the corner in the nook on the second floor, which people somehow avoid, but it’s my favorite place in the whole shop,” Patrick says, his words coming out nonchalantly, as if what the mystery guy just said isn’t a big deal.  
  
All of tomorrow, that is such a big deal.


	3. Part Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please welcome Josh Dun into this fanfic.
> 
> Thanks for all the comments and kudos, they make me really happy.
> 
> btw, this is unbeta'd so pardon my mistakes

  


The extra long shower has nothing to do with getting ready to spend all of tomorrow serving the cute guy. The extra long shower Patrick takes right after feeding the cat has to do with the fact that he feels like shit. He is tired, and he is sweaty for some reason, and he has the problem of having a new employee with no shift they can work until they find a forth barista.  
  
First thing Patrick needs to do is to print out a ‘help wanted’ sign and get a forth employee. Then he can just help out when needed, maybe relax a little instead of working all day. The shop is doing incredibly well now, he’s done the math, and he can afford to slouch back.  
  
Once he gets out of the shower he transfers everything to the king sized bed in his bedroom. The cup of tea, the laptop with the ‘Doldrums of Chicago’ blog opened where he stopped reading last night and of course, the cat.  
  
Patrick feels guilty for leaving the cat alone in the apartment for the most hours of the day, so he makes up for it at night, by not separating himself from it. Tonight is no exception.  
  
Sure, sometimes Tyler, the upstairs neighbor ‘borrows’ the cat for the day, but Patrick still feels like HE needs to spend time with it.  
  
He gets comfortable under the covers, a duvet and a knitted blanket he basically snitched out of his mom’s house. The cat is resting on the pillow on his left, the cup of lemon balm tea on the nightstand on his right, the laptop in his lap. He is ready to start reading.  
  
  
We have all been to some incredibly lame parties, right? Well, let me tell you about my latest one.  
  
I got there hoping that the music wouldn’t be awful, which did not happen. I got there hoping the people would be interesting, which did not happen. I got there hoping the drinks wouldn’t be limited, which also did not happen.  
  
They were mostly playing music from some new girl teen band which wouldn’t have been so awful if it wasn’t played in a house remix version. I know: I was a part-time DJ till a few years ago, girl bands are awesome if you let them girl band more and if you mix less. Also, try The Saturdays next time, that new one you were mixing had too much lyrics to be put in a house mix.  
  
The drinks not only were limited, but were also watered down and that is not the way to get me drunk. I am very fun when I am drunk, you have no idea. You have to get me drunk to see it.  
  
The people, well I might have overreacted a little, but if it wasn’t for my employer who dragged me there in the first place, I wouldn’t have anyone to talk to. Not that I didn’t try.  
  
There wasn’t even anyone to obsess over, I thought, no one hot. I looked around a lot and I was just about to give up when I saw him, the most beautiful sight of them all.  
  
There he was, a suit and a tie, casually chatting up people as he awkwardly played around with his messy strawberry blonde hair which I recently, meaning last night, found out I have a weakness for. There he was, a stranger whose beauty only Honorй de Balzac can describe in detail great enough to bring the real flawlessness to life. There he was, love of my life, perfection in the form of a human. There he was and I finally understood all those sonnets Francesco Petrarch wrote for Laura. There he was, and I was staring like a lunatic and he didn’t even notice me.  
  
His date however, he did see the way I acted, he pushed me as he walked by on his way to make out and take the love of my life away.  
  
And I was heartbroken. I know nothing about this person; I don’t even know his name. But I will find him. I will find everything out then. I will get him to fall in love with me like I fell in love with him last night. I will steal him if it’s needed.  
  
Just you wait and see… as stalk-ish as it may sound.  
  
Till we meet again my Laura, till we meet again.  
  
  
Fuck. It can’t be. Strawberry blonde; was there with a date. What are the chances of Patrick being this person?  
  
No, no, no – no fucking way. He is getting ahead of himself. He isn’t the person from the party. He isn’t even worthy of Petrarch’s sonnets.  
  
He is the person with the hat from the cafй. That’s it.  
  
If he was the ‘perfection in the form of a human’ from the party this person would’ve mentioned that he found him in the entry they wrote the other day.  
  
He decides to read the entry himself, maybe there was something else written in it, not just the part Brendon read to them.  
  
But there isn’t. It’s only the lines Brendon read, they make up the entire post. There is a new one though…  
  
  
My favorite coffee shop hired a new barista today and he is handsome and scary looking… well, only until you talk to him or see his smile. Then you see that he is the most huggable person on the planet.  
  
I bet he is a great cuddler too.  
  
So yes, I had a fantastic cup of coffee today before I went on a walk around town, just walking around and blatantly starting conversations with strangers about anything and everything.  
  
Life is good.  
  
Fuck that. Life is great.  
  
I’m no longer hitting the doldrums as hard as I used to.  
  
A week and a crush on a man with a fedora is all it takes for things to change.  
  
  
The blogger was in the coffee shop today?  
  
Patrick needs to call Andy and tell him. Also, Patrick needs to talk to Andy about this last sentence in the post.  
  
  
*  
  
  
The ‘help wanted’ sign doesn’t get the chance to be put up.  
  
First off, Patrick forgets it at home. It slips his mind that he needs to take it as the only thing he can think about is the unknown blogger.  
  
He only remembers when he gets to the shop half an hour early and does that mental check-list thing he does every morning. Bathrooms cleaned and stocked with toilet paper, check. Fresh coffee grounds brought up front, check. Fresh milky products, exact number of crates needed, check. Restocked on tea leaves and citrus fruits, check. Andy’s last time delivering the baked goods celebrated, check. Restocked sugars and to go cups, check. Restocked honey servings, check. Help wanted sign… oh shit.  
  
But the open sign has been flipped for maybe five minutes maybe, when a guy with vibrant red hair and pierced nose comes in, asking if they’re looking for anyone. After ten minutes of conversation, Patrick feels like the boy is an open book. Plus, he has years of experience and he desperately needs the job, no one can say no to the new guy in town who has spent days being rejected for whatever work position he’s applied to, or fired after day two.  
  
Patrick makes a mental note to thank whoever’s in charge of running the universe; you know the one that makes coincidences happen; well they are the best. He then says he’ll go look for a tip jar, leaving Mikey to give the new guy the tour, everything he needs to know for his trial week.  
  
The new guy’s name is Josh, he is younger than them all and he doesn’t feel comfortable calling Patrick by his first name and is currently trying out Mr. Stump, causing Mr. Stump to feel itchy and uneasy. But he recently left home and he is in a similar position as Brendon was not so long ago and Patrick feels sorry for him. The boy doesn’t even have an apartment; he’s been leaving in the cheapest motel in town for over a week while looking for a job.  
  
Patrick goes through all the options and decides that it would be best if the boy stays in his place tonight and until he can get on his feet. This town is scary and not very welcoming to those in trouble, he knows, Patrick’s learned that first hand.  
  
Patrick’s worries about the new guy disappear when he sees that his mystery man is the first customer of the day. The man walks into the shop with a laptop case in hand and a smile on his face. Of course he’s gonna spend the day working, he’s not going to spend all of his precious time talking to Patrick.  
  
Why is he being so needy? That’s what Patrick wants to know.  
  
“Good morning,” Patrick is the first one to say it, smiling back at the blonde.  
  
“Morning hat-man, how are you today?” the man asks, a smile still spread on his lips. Patrick has a sudden need to squirm. This man is making him nervous. Patrick hasn’t felt nervous over a person in a long while.  
  
“You know, I have a name. It’s Patrick,” he says, biting his tongue, forcing himself not to ask for the name he so wants to know.  
  
“Nice to meet you Patrick,” the man offers his hand in a very official manner. Say it – oh dear God, please say it, “I’m Pete.”  
  
YES!  
  
“Nice to meet you too,” Patrick manages to spit out a sentence using his calm ‘everything is normal’ voice, “now what can I get you?”  
  
“What’s the fruitiest drink you have to offer?” he gets a question back.  
  
“Forest fruit tea,” Patrick answers right away, “That comes with a slice of lemon, orange or grapefruit, by choice.”  
  
“No iced banana latte?” the man – fuck, old habits – Pete asks again.  
  
“We have that too, but it isn’t our fruitiest,” Patrick gives an honest answer, “And no, I can’t make it Irish.”  
  
“I want to start with an iced banana latte. I’ll be getting settled upstairs while you make it,” the guy – fuck, once again – Pete is already walking towards the stairs as he pronounces the last words.  
  
Patrick gets to it right away. The banana latte is one of those drinks that they have on the menu, but not a lot of people order it. His mystery… Pete is the first one to order it this week, actually, Patrick is almost certain.  
  
It’s easy to make, Patrick knows exactly how to make it perfect because it’s usually what he’s drinking, unless he is in the presence of lemon balm tea. Lemon balm tea is what his grandma used to make him everyday after school, she swore it was therapeutic. Years later, Patrick got on the internet and Googled to see if she was right. Yes, her cups of tea saved him from many break downs over too much homework, unreasonable teachers and incredibly mean kids.  
  
Thank the gods for that woman.  
  
“Relax Josh, you have a week to learn and prove yourself,” there is a slight tease in Mikey’s voice.  
  
Patrick doesn’t mean to eavesdrop. He’s just standing in front of the blender, painfully close to them, pealing the banana and putting it in the jug.  
  
“I never survive the first week,” Patrick hears Josh’s voice, a sound he has yet to get used to as he is determined to hire him at the end of the week.  
  
Mikey sneers before saying, “That won’t happen here, Josh. This is a private club, everyone that works here is gay,” he then laughs and stops out of the blue to correct himself, “Except for Brendon, that asshole is bisexual, he can go either way,” Mikey speaks, making an annoyed face as he uses the same words Brendon always says.  
  
‘I can go either way,’ is Mikey’s least favorite sentence in the English language.  
  
“Which is why Mikey is so bitchy lately,” Patrick finds himself saying, “considering his crush on Brendon and all,” he adds, chatting with the new guy as if they’ve been friends for years.  
  
“Go and flirt with the mystery guy,” Mikey snaps at him, not realizing that ‘the mystery guy’ might hear him over the music playing quietly in the shop.  
  
Each morning one of them gets to choose what they listen to all day. It was Mikey’s turn this morning and he is very satisfied with the Ed Sheeran mix he made. Okay, so maybe it isn’t a mix as much as it’s Ed Sheeran’s discography on shuffle, but still, it was a smart move.  
  
“His name is Pete,” Patrick says, suddenly realizing that to the new guy who is observing the situation carefully this is entertaining.  
  
The truth is that all fights Mikey gets into are amusing. He has a way of making it all funny in the end.  
  
“When did that happen?” Mikey snorts.  
  
“Three minutes ago,” Patrick thinks he’s firing back when in fact he’s just offering incredibly accurate information, “Excuse me, I have an iced banana latte to blend,” he says, covering the jug with the lid and turning the blender on in just two sharp moves.  
  
They stare at each other while the iced latte gets prepared. Mikey watches Patrick’s semi-angry face and Patrick tries to keep his expression intact as he waits for Mikey to look away. Then he remembers Gerard, Mikey’s older brother and Patrick immediately knows he’s gonna lose this stare-down.  
  
“Does this happen often?” Josh asks, still watching their stare contest with a casual smile on his face.  
  
“Something like this happens every morning,” Patrick answers before Mikey can.  
  
“I think the drink is ready,” Mikey says flatly, still staring through narrowed eyes.  
  
“You always win,” Patrick deadpans after he turns the blender off.  
  
“Experience,” Mikey responds.  
  
Patrick pours the mixture into a cup and then heads toward the second floor. As he starts going up the stairs customers walk into the shop and he knows that he needs to hurry up. Yes, he has a new employee, but the new employee is on probation and isn’t fully trained yet. Soon he will be able to fully relax, real soon.  
  
  
*  
  
  
Josh is a sweetheart. Josh is amazing. Josh, despise his sexuality, can flirt back with all the high school girls without a care in the world and make them promise they’ll come again. Josh just talked an old lady into a Vietnamese coffee and she was so trilled that he got a three hundred percent tip.  
  
Josh is scary good at talking to people. He, however, is still slow in the drink-preparing portion of the job, he has yet to learn where everything is, but once that is covered he’ll be just fine… if not better than fine.  
  
All in all, Patrick is happy today. Nothing can annoy him.  
  
Not even the random, thunder no lightning, orders that Pete dictates from the second floor every once in a while.  
  
Patrick is a bit worried though. He has never seen a person chug so much caffeine in one morning and not get the shakes. Some people get the shakes even when they’ve had a cup of decaf. Have you met Brendon?  
  
Speaking of whom.  
  
They don’t really notice when Brendon enters the coffee shop, they’re all making drinks for customers. However Brendon has a way of getting their attention.  
  
“Can I get a latte, mocha and affogato all in one large cup, seven sugars and a dash of cinnamon?” Brendon dictates an order that only Josh seems to consider.  
  
“No, you can’t,” Mikey says, while Patrick is busy preparing a dry cappuccino for his customer of the day.  
  
“Who’s this?” Brendon points at Josh while looking at Mikey with the question in his eyes.  
  
“Your replacement,” Mikey answers, enjoying the sight of Brendon giving him the finger as a response, all while Josh freezes up, worried that a fight might outbreak. He has no idea what’s going on, “Bren, this is Josh; he’s new in town and he is on trial period this week. Josh, this is Brendon, he’s… well, you know all about Brendon.”  
  
Brendon eyes the new guy from head to toe a couple of times before Patrick gives him a poke in the side to get him to move. This is not a drill, he has an order to deliver, “You’re cute,” Brendon says to Josh, offering a handshake.  
  
“Thanks. Nice to meet you,” Josh smiles shyly, accepting Brendon’s hand.  
  
Brendon is off to finding his apron as Patrick is off to playing host.  
  
It isn’t a regular thing; they’re baristas, not waiters. If someone wants a cup of coffee they get it for themselves. Pete is the first person in this cafй that gets served, and by no other but the owner himself.  
  
“Here you go,” Patrick says, putting the cup next to Pete’s laptop.  
  
“Thanks,” Pete glimpses at Patrick, placing a smile across his lips before staring into the computer screen again.  
  
Patrick really wants to know what Pete is doing, his constant typing and strong focus have Patrick bewildered, and he wants to ask. But he’s feeling like he’s interrupting even when he brings the cup of coffee over, starting a conversation would feel like causing more problems. He doesn’t want to beat himself up.  
  
“Can I offer you some brownies or cookies or anything?” Patrick’s worries get him to ask. This much coffee on an empty stomach can’t be good.  
  
“I saw some apple muffins; do you still have some of those?” Pete asks back, not raising his eyes from the screen.  
  
“Sure.”  
  
“Do you take any breaks?” another question is thrown at Patrick, this time the man that has been on his mind for days now is looking at him.  
  
“Sometimes,” Patrick responds, “I’m about to take one in a couple of minutes, I want to have a talk with my new employee.”  
  
“The one my agent likes.”  
  
“Your agent,” Patrick repeats the words.  
  
“Joe, the guy I came in with yesterday. He’s a literary agent.”  
  
“Okay,” Patrick breathes out the word. He has so many questions about Pete’s work now, but he still feels like he’s intruding, “Not Andy though.”  
  
“Okay. Have your break somewhere near me,” Pete suggests, his eyes narrowed and glued on Patrick, simply encouraging him to do as asked. Why is it working? Why are all the fears of interrupting Pete in his important work suddenly gone?  
  
No, no, no, fear, come back please.  
  
“Let me get you your muffin,” Patrick replies, trying to run away from the situation as he starts walking towards the stairs.  
  
“I want your muffin too,” Pete says and Patrick turns back only to catch Pete staring at his ass. Patrick’s behind has been receiving compliments for years now, but it refuses to get used to those comments, therefore this is another moment in which Patrick is uncomfortable.  
  
Patrick can’t get a break. Whenever he starts loosening up – boom – back to square one!  
  
“That would never happen,” Patrick hears Mikey’s voice and he knows that he’s talking to Brendon.  
  
Mikey has a special tone of voice he only uses with Brendon. Like a mixture of flirting and teasing, and also on the verge of baby talk at times. Patrick and Andy had labeled it ‘love voice’ just this morning.  
  
“It so would,” Brendon replies and Patrick finally is at a step where he can observe the situation.  
  
Josh is standing in the middle, a wide smile spread across his lips as he chats with a customer, and the other two are on the two ends of the counter, slightly turned towards each other even though they’re both serving shoppers.  
  
“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Mikey offers again with evident annoyance on his face, “Captain America would never go against Superman because they don’t even live in the same universe.”  
  
“Yes they do,” Brendon protests, keeping up with the act of a know-nothing-at-all. It must be a new ‘get Mikey to make out with me’ technique.  
  
“No they don’t,” Mikey fights back, “Superman is DC Comics and Captain America is Marvel,” he says to Brendon before turning towards the customer and giving her back her change.  
  
“Who would win though?” Brendon insists, still playing pretend he doesn’t know and that his completely innocent. Is Mikey the only person who cannot see that Brendon had this planned?  
  
“One of them has superpowers, and the other has a cool shield,” he reminds Brendon, “It’s a no-brainer.”  
  
“You’re right,” Brendon sighs, winking at Josh before walking over to Mikey who’s now preparing a drink, “The guy with the shield always wins.”  
  
“What?” Mikey gasps, not believing in the words he’s hearing.  
  
Patrick is now sure that he must put a stop to this. Brendon is flat-out trying to piss Mikey off while not saying the sentence with which it would be done in an instant. They all know what Mikey’s second least favorite sentence in the English language is. It contains only two words: “Batman sucks” it goes and he will not speak to you for the rest of your short life, if you say it.  
  
“His super-shield can protect him from the superpowers,” Brendon continues.  
  
“Brendon,” Mikey begins and takes in a deep breath, “You know I prefer the Cap, but Superman can beat the crap out of him.”  
  
“You’re bothering the customers,” Patrick finally meddles in their conversation. Mikey successfully slips away to serve a bulky guy, “Drop it Brendon, you have work right now. Do it later,” Patrick talks only for Brendon’s ears.  
  
“Do what later?” Brendon asks only to receive a look from Patrick, “I’m that obvious?” he adds another question as he concludes that it’s time for him to finally ‘drop it’, “The new guy helps out.”  
  
“It’s about to get really crowded here and I need to talk to Josh before that,” Patrick responds as he takes out an apple muffin from the showcase with a pair of tongs, leaving it on a plate.  
  
“Why?”  
  
“He lives in a motel Brendon,” Patrick mutters, so close to Brendon and making sure that Josh doesn’t hear and get insulted. It’s a problem to Patrick because one: the motel is so crappy and two: the motel is so far away.  
  
“Hey stud! Where is that muffin?” a voice comes from upstairs and both Patrick and Brendon look up. Brendon is the one who freezes in shock for a couple of seconds. But happy shock, Brendon is happy that Patrick has a ‘suitor’, he needs to do at lease some stuff out of work.  
  
“You,” Brendon shouts and points at Pete with all the excitement he has in him.  
  
“What about me?” Pete wonders, looking blankly at Brendon and ignoring how Patrick just rushes away from answering Brendon anything.  
  
“Josh, meet me upstairs in a couple of minutes,” Patrick speaks, already reaching the stairs as he runs away from Brendon’s stare, “Get yourself any drink you want.”  
  
“Okay,” Josh replies and seconds it with a nod.  
  
  
*  
  
  
When you offer a person anything, they shouldn’t reach out for the cheapest thing, Patrick thinks as he watches Josh who takes a sip out of the chamomile tea he made for himself. Water and a teabag, it’s not even fully steeped. Patrick is determined that he’s making a cup of mocha for Josh before closing the shop tonight.  
  
They’re sitting a table away from Pete who is still at work, typing fast. So far in the conversation… well there hasn’t been a conversation. Nothing has been said.  
  
“Are you allergic to cats?” Patrick asks, getting down to business right away.  
  
“No,” Josh shakes his head, “Why?”  
  
“The Cascade Motel is a dump,” Patrick states; it’s common knowledge really.  
  
“Preach,” Pete comments, a statement that both Patrick and Josh ignore.  
  
“I know I said a week,” Patrick gets back to the point, “but this morning went smoothly and if you want to work here, the job is yours. But if you do work here, I can’t allow you to live in a motel and travel an hour and a half to work each morning,” he tries to explain, “You can stay with me while you look for your own place that’s closer to work.”  
  
“Aren’t you worried that he might be a murderer… or a thief?” Pete meddles in their conversation again and Patrick turns his head towards him.  
  
“Are you a murderer or a thief?” Patrick looks back at Josh long enough to ask the question.  
  
“No,” Josh says looking at both Patrick and Pete through narrowed eyes, “Are you two murderers?”  
  
“That’s exactly how a criminal would react,” Pete whispers, causing an incredibly loud groan from Patrick.  
  
“You’re really not helping here,” Patrick whispers back, “You’re only freaking him out.”  
  
“Maybe I’m just jealous,” Patrick cannot believe what he’s hearing right now.  
  
“Be jealous on the inside, like the rest of human kind,” he snorts.  
  
“Fine,” Pete rolls his eyes at Patrick and for some reason Patrick doesn’t see it as rude. No, no – this is far worse – he finds the eye roll adorable. He is cursing himself on the inside.  
  
“You two should date,” Josh says, earning a stern look from Patrick, “I’m not fired am I?”  
  
“Far from it,” Patrick shakes his head, “Rest for a few of hours, and be back by ten. You'll help me close up, then I’ll drive you to get your stuff and check out of that place.”  
  
“Got it,” Josh agrees before he smiles softly, “I’m gonna finish my tea downstairs. I’ll leave you two alone. See you tonight,” he adds as he wraps his fingers around the mug and rises from the chair at the same time.  
  
“I like him. I think you should promote him,” Pete smiles at Patrick as soon as Josh is down the stairs.  
  
“He just started working this morning,” Patrick offers as he moves from where he’s sitting to the chair opposite of the man that was a mystery until this morning, “I met him this morning.”  
  
“You’re the one that invited him in your house.”  
  
“I need someone to keep the cat company,” he lies. Patrick just feels bad for the guy, the real reason cannot be clearer.  
  
“Huh,” Pete breaths it out and Patrick asks a question in form of a narrow-eyed look, “I thought of you as a dog person.”  
  
“I am a dog person,” he says, “I got stuck with the cat after a break up.”  
  
“Why didn’t you get rid of it?” Pete asks him and he closes the screen of his laptop, showing too much interest in the subject.  
  
“I can’t. It purrs and licks my face.”  
  
“And, I suspect, it also is your alibi for not doing anything fun; you treat it like your child,” Pete replies and smiles wide, trying his best not to chuckle. It should be annoying, Patrick thinks, why isn’t it annoying?  
  
“Sure, that too,” he finds himself nodding.  
  
“I’m gonna get you to do something fun someday,” Pete makes it a challenge and reaches out to take a bite of his muffin  
  
“Like what?” Patrick dares to ask even though he already knows the answer.  
  
“Date, Saturday. I’ll pick you up after you close the shop,” Pete says and Patrick almost freaks out because Saturday is a day before Valentines Day and he doesn’t know what that means. Is it supposed to mean anything at all? Breathe Patrick, just breathe, “and the new guy can take care of the cat. What time do you close?” Pete adds.  
  
Breathe.  
  
“Midnight,” Patrick says, it almost comes out as a sigh. It’s too late, they won’t be able to make it work. By the time the get anywhere it’ll be almost ten. He’s sure Pete won’t be able to come up with anything that late.  
   
“Awesome. I know the perfect place.”


	4. Part Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the comments and kudos, I honestly love you all.
> 
> This was my favorite part to write, btw.
> 
> Randomly mentioning again that you can follow me on tumblr if you want, it's [illbefinealone](http://illbefinealone.tumblr.com/) , or you can follow my book review blog, if you want, that's [illbefinealonereads](http://illbefinealonereads.tumblr.com/).
> 
> Love you guys.

  


Josh is a college dropout. This is what Patrick discovers on their walk to Patrick’s place. Also, Josh decided, on his own, that it was time to leave the house; he couldn’t stand to watch his whole family silently judging him for leaving school.

Which Patrick understands, he connects it to Jesse again before he forces himself to stop thinking on such a subject and goes back to Josh, who is incredibly nice.

Sure, inviting him to the apartment was an impulse, he should’ve waited a few more days before he did it, but at the same time, he will sleep much better now that he knows that he had a chance to help someone out and took it.

Plus, Josh doesn’t look like a murderer, despite the possibility Pete pointed out.

It’s the following morning now, and when Patrick wakes up alive and well he feels relieved and at the same time happy, because his judgment didn’t fail him this time. The alarm went off and he and Josh have enough time for some breakfast before they go to the shop. Patrick has everything calculated. He also has frozen waffles and whipped cream from a can, he has everything.

This morning, the cat is nowhere to be found, which is quite a surprise. Usually Patrick wakes up with Mario on his back or stomach, depending on how comfortable he got as he fell asleep. He’d rather sleep on his stomach, sure, but he can’t make that possible when the cat is already sprawled on his chest.

When he walks out of his bedroom, he sees that Josh is already awake. Josh is sitting on the couch with a book in hand, the cat next to him on one side, and all the covers Patrick gave him, folded and in a pile on the other side.

They enjoy some waffles and they head out, talking some more on their way to work.

Mikey is waiting in front of the shop with a bag filled with books he thought they can add on the shelf in the corner. Shopping for books is one of those chores Mikey volunteered to have. Once a month, with a budget of twenty dollars he enters the Bargain Book Shop next door and walks out with new material.

“No chick-lit again?” Patrick raises an eyebrow as they enter the shop, looking back and giving Mikey a smirk, “It’s a miracle how there’s only chick-lit when I pay them a visit and none at all when you go shopping for the store.”

“It’s not my fault,” Mikey defends himself, a lame attempt considering everyone knows that horror stories are what Mikey lives for, “But these are good, Gerard helped me pick them,” he says before he winks at Josh, “Anyway. Who do you think will make the bake goods delivery today?”

“Hopefully someone nice,” Patrick replies, rushing to switch on the lights in all of the show.

“Question,” Josh announces, grabbing both Patrick’s and Mikey’s attention, “What does your upstairs neighbor do? There were some strange noises all night, like metal hitting metal, maybe.”

“I didn’t hear anything,” Patrick murmurs, an odd occurrence because Patrick always hears everything, “He’s an artist, what you heard are most likely empty paint cans.”

“He must have a thousand of those,” Josh concludes.

“Tyler was his name, right?” Mikey offers.

“Yeah,” Patrick confirms, trying to remember if Tyler and Mikey ever met, “Did it went on all night?”

“No, just for like ten minutes around midnight. I was just interested as to what it was, that’s all.”

“If it happens again, I’ll talk to him.”

“I doubt there will be a need.”

 

*

 

Patrick had to make a hard decision. Someone had to work the afternoon shift on Sunday, Valentines Day, when the café will join the celebration and stay open till midnight.

Josh volunteered, he has nothing better to do and frankly, he is still trying to impress and stay at this job. He likes everyone, they all seem nice so far. Mikey is easy to talk to and easy to read and Brendon is a hoot. Andy is the nicest person Josh has ever met and some of the customers are incredibly friendly too. For example, Spencer, the guy who works for some big-shot lawyer in the neighborhood as her assistant; they’ve met twice so far, but they have hit it off. The same with Gabe, the hairstylist from across the street that offered to give him a haircut sometime. And Ray, the guy from the music store two blocks down, according to Mikey, he gets two orders of double Ristretto and they’re both for him.

Josh feels lucky to have walked in this coffee shop and asked if they’re looking. If he stayed on the other side of town, like he originally planned, he wouldn’t have met these people who are nice to him for no reason. Their niceness makes him relax a bit.

Josh is slowly opening up, starting conversations, by the end of the second day, chatting with Brendon, discussing the worst dates they ever had, and seeing it happen, Patrick relaxes too. Josh stayed the whole day at work in case they needed a helping hand while Patrick conversed with Pete upstairs.

Pete showed up again, this time in the afternoon, his laptop and a stack of papers, none of which he excessively used as he spent the day getting to know Patrick.

“I asked you on a date, yet I know nothing about you other than the fact you love your hat. I don’t even have your phone number. Let’s fix that,” Pete had suggested and after the day’s rush hour, Patrick made himself a latte and up he went to talk to Prince Charming.

And dammit, Pete is so fucking charming.

Before Patrick knew it, it was the end of the work day and they were about to close when Pete had asked about Patrick’s previous relationships. He knew it was bound to come up, he just thought he had more time before he had to tell the story of Jesse and the life he had before the coffee shop.

Patrick really didn’t want to tell Pete about his foolishness when it came to Jesse. But he knew he had to… someday.

“Not today,” Patrick had said and Pete understood right away. It’s a touchy subject, Pete concluded and made a mental note not to push for the answer, ever. He can ask again, maybe tomorrow or the day after before going into telling horrible stories about his past loves.

And Patrick had made a mental note to try not to sound as if he was still in love with Jesse.

Was he though? Was that the reason why he thought of him so much? Is that why he has to stop himself before his name slips through his lips?

Or was it all about closure and how he got none, only hurt? Maybe it was all about to go away.

But Pete isn’t a rebound, Pete isn’t looking to be a rebound, and after all you’re not looking for a rebound, you’re looking to be able to trust someone again, to love someone again, Patrick reminded himself. You do not do rebounds.

Since two nights ago, when they left it at ‘Not today’, they haven’t seen each other, or heard each other’s voice. They have however, been texting like crazy; Patrick finally saw the good in having unlimited texting.

**meetings all day, i’m bored out of my mind. entertain me, hat man.** – that’s how it started and it turned into a whole thing where Pete basically explained everything that happens in the book he’s about to get published during the course of the whole day.

**you now know everything that happens in it, no need to read it now** – Pete sent back as Patrick was locking up the shop.

Tonight, he was walking home alone. He let Brendon leave early to finish the Valentines Day decorations and Josh worked the morning, he left with Mikey after their shift was done so he can feed the cat. Andy helped lock up, but Andy lives on the opposite side of the neighborhood than Patrick.

So when Patrick saw that last text, that Pete is still up to texting, he found something to do while he walks home.

**I still would read it** – Patrick texts back.

**aww, baby, you’re so cute** – Pete replies, causing a smile on Patrick’s face.

**I was thinking, we should set up a book signing in the shop. That would be super good for business.**

**making money out of me already? i’d love that actually. xo**

 

*

 

Valentines Day came sooner than expected… in the café that is. Patrick mentioned Thursday, but he expected Brendon to do the decorations after they close that night, not before they open.

Some red and pink strings are visible through the window, but what they don’t know is that there are also signs inside, ‘Be Mine’ and ‘Happy Valentines Day’ in various fonts and sizes all over the walls. Then there’s the enormous, personalized and glittered banner that Brendon made by hand, drawing out then painting the letters for hours after work yesterday before using a very old blow-dryer to make sure the paint is a-okay by morning.

When Patrick and Josh walk into the shop, Patrick’s attention is elsewhere. He was chatting with Pete about their date on Saturday the previous night and now Pete has finally sent the details, if you can call them that. Pete is cryptic sometimes, he is a metaphor on legs and Patrick still hasn’t decided if he likes that.

Okay, maybe he has, he loves it, actually. Every conversation can end up being an adventure, who wouldn’t love that.

“Did you graduate from ‘How to piss off Mikey’ college?” it’s the first thing Josh asks.

“Unlike some people who dropped out,” Brendon fires back with a snotty remark.

“But he’s going to murder _you_ in cold blood,” Josh offers.

“What are you two talking about?” Patrick asks as he walks in, his eyes still focused on his phone. He then looks up, surprised by the amount of decorations Brendon actually made and put up. And there are the signs, so cute, and… oh, now ‘Mikey Way, be my Valentine’ isn’t going to end well. Patrick knew there had to be something to Brendon’s begging. Was this the plan he had? “I didn’t know you had a death-wish on your head,” Patrick offers him a smile.

“Not you too,” Brendon protests.

“When has Mikey ever been public about his feelings?” Patrick questions him, slipping his phone in his pocket. Brendon can’t be serious about this. How can he not see it? “You two have been practically in love with each other for at least two months... you still haven’t gone out on a date. He doesn’t like acting on something until he’s certain, otherwise he’s been open about something and then bitten on the ass. And instead of reassuring him, you’ve been arguing with him about silly things, frustrating him. And now this banner? You cannot expect this to end well.”

“I happen to think it’s a great idea,” a voice comes from upstairs.

“Pete?” Patrick’s voice doesn’t hide his shock.

“Good morning,” Pete smiles, showing his head over the railing.

“Yeah, Pete was waiting for you and I needed help so I invited him in.”

“It’s not a good idea.” Patrick says to Pete.

“Okay. I trust you, babe,” Pete winks at him.

“I’m gonna go and stock the counter,” Josh excuses himself, winking at Brendon that it’s time to leave them alone.

“I’ll clean the baked goods area in the back room, Dallon’s gonna make his delivery any minute now,” Brendon says and Patrick knows what they’re both doing, considering Josh barely knows where things go, and Brendon never, ever volunteers to do anything, let alone clean something.

“Hey,” Pete smiles again as soon as both baristas disappear in the back room.

“Hi.”

“I thought I’d work some more here today,” Pete says in his defense, before Patrick even asks why he’s here.

“You barely did any work the last time you were here,” Patrick teases, heading for the stairs that lead to the second floor.

“I brought it,” Pete says while Patrick is still on the stairs, making Patrick hurry up.

They were talking about Pete’s book through texts and Patrick had mentioned that he wants to read it, even though he knows what’s happening with the characters.

When Patrick reaches the last step he sees Pete standing with his arms extended, holding the book in Patrick’s face, basically.

There’s a photograph of a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains and a starry sky above it all, vibrant colors that come off as cartoony first, but then you actually look at it, it’s just breathtaking scenery. On the bottom of the mountain, in a pretty cursive font it says ‘Someone Else’s Life by Pete Wentz’.

“So far, I love the cover,” Patrick mocks him again and Pete rolls his eyes.

“I’m just so excited for you to read it,” Pete exclaims, leaving the hardcover in Patrick’s hands, “Speaking of the cover, I took that picture myself. It’s on an island in Scotland.”

“What’s the island called?”

“I’ll have to check,” Pete rushes towards his laptop, set on the same position at it was the last time. And the time before that, “Went to too many Scottish islands in a short period of time. All of them are beautiful.”

“You have pictures on there?” Patrick raises an eyebrow at him.

“Thousands,” Pete says, seconding it with a casual shrug that makes Patrick realize a scary thing: Pete has no idea how handsome or cool he really is, “If you have a day, I can show you every single one of them.”

“I have most of a day,” Patrick responds.

 

*

 

Much like the rest of the morning shift, Mikey doesn’t notice the sign at first. His attention is focused on the ribbons, the red balloons in the corners, on the bouquets of rugged red paper flowers, the hand cut heart shaped confetti. A whole forest has been painted pink and red before coming into Brendon’s surprisingly capable hands, and then dying a slow painful death.

Then Mikey sees how everyone is staring at him, how everyone is a bit tense, especially Brendon.

So Mikey takes a look around. And then he sees it. And then everyone is expecting for hell to break loose. Call the Winchesters.

“Take it down,” Mikey growls, his voice echoing all through the café.

“I think it looks good,” Brendon says flatly, a bit annoyed that the question he asks with the banner itself isn’t answered. It’s not hard, it’s a yes or no question.

“Brendon, take it down, now,” Mikey demands and Brendon decides to protest to everything Mikey says until he gets an answer.

Everyone is staring at them two, expecting it to escalate. It’s either going to get louder and angrier on Mikey’s side, or Brendon’s going to win and Mikey’s going to give in.

“Why? Are you embarrassed by it?” Brendon asks.

“Take it down, or else.”

“No, you have to say it nicely,” Brendon continues the charade, pulling his puppy-eyes and pouty lips, considering they’ve worked with everyone, every single previous time.

“I have to say shit nicely. What do you think this is? A rom-com?” Mikey is yelling louder now.

“Be my fucking Valentine and I will take it down right away.”

“Brendon!”

“I think I said it clearly.”

“Fine. I’ll be your fucking Valentine,” he hisses the words out, rolling his eyes at Brendon’s smile.

“Pete! You can unhook it now!”

“Pete has seen this too? Damn you, Urie. I thought that at least one person that I know will not see this.”

“Dallon still hasn’t made the delivery. And Andy is in the afternoon shift,” Patrick tries to help dialing down Mikey’s fury. But then he notices that Dallon is already here, walking through the door.

“Good morning,” Dallon says, smiling as he looks at the joke on the wall that Pete is struggling to untie.

“Yeah, I’m Brendon’s Valentine, we’re twelve now,” Mikey turns towards Dallon, expressing all his bitterness through that sentence.

“It worked?” Dallon asks, complete surprise on his face.

“Yeah,” Brendon smiles.

“Take it down, Bren,” Mikey roars again.

“Okay, okay,” he says, rushing to help Pete before Mikey threatens to hit.

“How did you know about this? We met you two days ago,” Patrick asks.

“Actually, Bren and I go to the same gym, we’ve known each other for a while.”

“So you tell everyone about me, but you don’t tell me?” Mikey asks, walking towards the other end of the banner, helping with it, to everyone’s surprise.

“Not like you don’t do the same,” Brendon answers him.

“Why would I tell you anything? You constantly piss me off.”

“Why do you think I piss you off?”

Well. It’s not like anyone thought they wouldn’t argue about it.

 

*

 

The following morning, Patrick and Josh are several minutes late for work. Mikey is already waiting for them outside, pacing in the space in front of the entrance. They’re both very apologetic, Josh is slightly more, after all, it was his fault.

They had stumbled onto Tyler this morning, and his obvious flirting with Josh held them up a bit. Patrick tried his best not to laugh at the situation, once the situation was over. He is glad it happened though, because Tyler now has a reason to come to the coffee shop and actually leave his apartment. Patrick was just about to begin worrying that maybe Tyler is starting to develop agoraphobia.

Once in the coffee shop, and once Patrick turns the heat on, they get settled out of their coats and into their aprons, and both Patrick and Josh have a sudden need to mock Mikey. Because today, Michael Way is sporting a quite visible, and quite big hickey, that Josh called the father of all hickeys when he pointed it out to Patrick.

“That fucker,” Mikey growls, noticing it for the first time after he sees his boss snickering at him.

“Please tell me that’s from Brendon, I don’t have the energy to mediate World War III,” Patrick says to him as he reties his apron for the third time since putting it on.

Tying and untying the apron, and then tying it again. Waiting for Pete to show up, even though Pete said he will call when he comes in the shop. If he even manages to. Continuously telling himself not to act like a teenager at the back of his mind. Having stupid nightmares where he’s being pushed off a rock by Pete and then caught at the bottom by another, hotter Pete, if hotter is a possibility; nightmare that he can’t ignore later on in the day.

Patrick is fairly busy, he has no time for whatever fight Brendon and Mikey might get into next.

“It is from Brendon,” Mikey answers through clenched teeth, “I’ll go broke because of that asshole. I mean, how is this good for getting tips?”

“Maybe put on a scarf,” Patrick suggests, parts of his attention in the room, while the rest is still with Pete.

“I think there was one in the lost and found,” Josh chips in, “Want me to check?”

“Please,” Mikey mouths, and Josh is on it, right away.

“So how did that happen?” Patrick asks, pointing at the hickey.

“It’s this thing, called sex.”

“I didn’t need to know that.”

“It’s okay not to remember, I know you haven’t had it in a while,” Mikey replies, cheekily.

“You’re an ass,” Patrick returns.

“Don’t say ass right now.”

“Why? Yours in pain?”

“That is the least Patrick thing you’ve said since we’ve met.”

 

*

 

A day before their date, there was no sign of Pete. No text, no call, no random show-up for coffee and an irresponsible flirting session with Patrick. Nothing. And it makes Patrick doubt that the ‘date’ is even going to happen.

Standing next to the espresso machine, Patrick stares through the windows, lost in his train of thought. The thing about said train of thought is that almost all of the wagons have Pete’s face on them. And Patrick is worried. He shouldn’t be thinking about Pete that much.

“Worried about something?” Andy asks, snapping him back to reality.

“Same old, same old,” Patrick tries to shrug it off, even though everyone around him can see that it’s something more than that.

“Thinking about a certain fellow that promised a certain date tomorrow?” Andy raises an eyebrow, looking like a smug eight-year-old as he leans over the counter.

“Brendon?” Patrick doesn’t make it sound too much like a question, though he should.

“No, Pete himself,” Andy speaks, continuing to wear the satisfied smirk, “Just try not to be too tired. And be hungry.”

“For what?” Patrick looks at him questionably, his voice, his who demeanor coming off angry.

“I don’t know, it’s what Pete told me to tell you. Don’t shoot the messenger. Jeez,” Andy says, slowly walking away and towards the storage room.

“When did you see Pete?”

“Last night at Joe’s,” is the last thing Andy says, before entering the storage room.

Patrick can’t help but feel a little angry. Or maybe he’s being jealous, the tiniest smidge. It’s just that he really wanted to see Pete. For the first time since Jesse, almost four months ago, Patrick was getting jittery, at moments catching himself thinking, or acting like a teenage girl. But that’s just the beauty of it.

 

*

 

The day before Valentines Day. The day of Patrick’s date. Patrick doesn’t know how to feel about it, if he’s being honest. Seeing Pete yesterday would’ve calmed his nerves, but that didn’t happen, so now Patrick can’t sit tight in one place.

Josh has developed speed, now that he’s had a few days to get used to the space and the order in which things are. Everything has to be in perfect condition, on the spot that’s specifically meant for it, so everyone else can find it. This rule is courtesy of Mikey Way, and the only one who had trouble with it so far, a person who has held a silent two-hour one-man protest, has been His Majesty Mr. Brendon Urie, because of reasons totally unsuitable for a workplace.

But now that Josh has learned these little ‘rules’ and ‘customs’ the tribe of Robusta Café has developed, he’s having a much easier time and doing his job quickly and more efficiently.

Andy has a much easier time, having observed the space, and having known all the customs for weeks before beginning to work at the coffee house. For him it wasn’t a horribly big change to make, he knows his employer and colleagues for a while now, and matter of fact, he knows them well.

Patrick is really satisfied by the work both guys are doing. And the café is still busy, thanks to the mystery blogger from the internet. It’s all going great. He has nothing to worry about. Except for Pete and the date.

Another thing that gets scratched off of Patrick’s “worry list” is Tyler. Because Tyler, for the first time since the coffee shop has opened, came in to get a cup of coffee. Well that’s what Patrick originally thought. But of course, Tyler had come to see and maybe flirt a little with Josh. And Patrick, the great boss he is, and even a greater friend he is, allowed Josh to take a short break and talk with Tyler, taking his place behind the counter for those fifteen minutes. If Patrick can’t, at least Tyler can talk to the guy he has a crush on.

Fuck. He really does sound like a teenage girl. A ‘crush’? What is that even supposed to mean? What will be next? Gossiping about his and Pete’s first kiss with Brendon? Well, the probability of that happening is quite high, considering Brendon knows everything about him.

How did this happen? He knows he liked Pete from the moment he walked into the café, but how does sounding lovesick happen overnight? He seriously thought he was doing fine. He has all these new friends, and he has an apartment that suits his taste and needs, he has a cat that he originally didn’t want, but now can’t imagine going a day without petting? People really do change in the blink of an eye.

All these thoughts don’t really help with the excitement and fear Patrick is feeling. He is now in doubt that the operation will run smoothly. Now that he knows what he sounds like, what he’s acting like… he can embarrass himself so easily, it’s astonishing.

Everyone takes notice at Patrick’s demeanor. All the questioning he’s doing; it all comes to the surface too. And everyone chooses to make a comment… well except for Josh, who only offers a cup of tea and a squeeze on the shoulder. Patrick honestly prefers Josh to everyone else today.


	5. Part Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas loves!!!!!

  


Patrick spent the day pacing around the café. Taking care of the tables, stocking a re-stocking everything that needed such an action, mopping whatever needed mopping, even when it only needed mopping according to him. He even took a nap on the couch in the storage room, a short one, but it was enough to energize him for his date.

It is safe to say that he was restless in anticipation of his date with Pete. And he is having second thoughts about the date; that is true too. The whole problem lies with how he has no idea what to expect.

First off, the date is happening after midnight, which by itself raises some questions. Patrick can’t name one single restaurant, diner, take out place, or anything else that might produce food that would be open at that hour. And the message Pete sent through Andy was that he should be hungry.

Which brings us to the second bulletin on Patrick’s check-list.

Patrick is certain that it’s far too early to be introduced to Pete’s apartment. If everything goes exactly like he imagines, there would be plenty of time to see Pete’s place, explore every corner, probably have sex all over it. ‘Too early’ was the reason for Patrick’s anxiety. It was ‘too early’ for the sex he wanted to have, too. Yet he was thinking about it, excessively. He shouldn’t be.

Fifteen minutes before midnight, when the time nears to close the shop, and for Pete to arrive, Patrick’s jitters get even worse, believe it or not. Just when Patrick thought that there was no way in hell that he can get more pathetic than that.

He shuts everything off, says ‘see you tomorrow’ to Josh who insisted to stay and help him with the locking up, and then he stands outside of the café, waiting for his date. Pete is a few minutes late, which only fuels the all second-guessing that Patrick’s doing.

“Sorry I’m late, I have a good excuse,” it’s the first thing Pete says to him.

“It’s okay,” Patrick finds himself smiling as he speaks, “Hi.”

“Hi,” Pete replies and welcomes Patrick into a short, quite tight hug. Patrick had to stop himself from melting into Pete’s arms.

As Pete loosens up the grip, Patrick’s whole being is overtaken by calmness. He can’t lie, he feels a connection floating in the air between them, but it scares him. Burned once, burned twice, burned several times, he doesn’t want to be burned again. How has Pete managed to make Patrick feel comfortable around him in such a short period remains a mystery.

“Haven’t seen you in a couple of days,” Patrick notes.

“Sorry, I had some things to take care of. But I’m all yours from now on,” Pete winks at Patrick as he gestures him to start walking towards the direction from which he came.

“Good to know,” Patrick speaks, trying his best to stop the blush he feels forming on his cheeks. All his. That sounds awesome. What a wonderful description of Pete that would be. All Patrick’s.

Dammit. Go back. No hopefulness right now. Not until after the fifth date. Then you can imagine future and happiness. This isn’t a Mikey and Brendon situation. They’ve known each other for a while, you have no idea who this person really is.

Patrick doesn’t allow his brain to shout at his heart like that a lot. It was necessary to let it happen this time around.

Pete and Patrick walk to till they spot a cab, and Pete signals the driver to stop. Both that handful of moments and the fifteen minute drive toward the deep suburbs are spent with not a lot of conversation, just empty talk about their days, maybe the latest research or news articles Pete has read, and so on.

The conversation would be livelier, but it’s after midnight. Patrick’s wrecked from work, the nap didn’t do any wonders. But he keeps his eye lids opened, the sole need to keep the conversation going, and keep listening to Pete’s voice. It’s calming, somehow.

The second thing that keeps him awake is the nervousness in his stomach, caused by the thought of seeing Pete’s apartment. But once they get out of the cab and Pete pays the driver, refusing Patrick’s attempt to cover at least half of the expense, he is facing a different fact.

“I thought about setting it up at my apartment, but then I realized that maybe neutral territory would be better, since it’s a first date and I don’t want to set any alarms off,” Pete says, explaining why they’re walking into a house with the name ‘Trohman’ on the mailbox.

“How thoughtful of you,” Patrick remarked, walking through the front door.

“Joe was kind enough to let me borrow his house for a night. And Andy was kind enough to help me persuade Joe into letting me borrow it,” Pete laughs. Right away, Patrick makes a mental note to thank Andy in the morning.

“Very nice of them both.”

 

*

 

Pete cooked. And not only that, Pete can fucking cook. Patrick’s been to some fancy restaurants back in his day, when he had a bit more time and a lot more need to do such a thing, but he has never eating anything as delicious as Pete’s pasta with creamy mushroom sauce.

Maybe part of the reason why he finds Pete’s cooking so scrumptious is how he’s incredibly hungry. Or maybe it’s all about how the food brings him the bit of energy he’s lacking. But, nevertheless, he would give his date a Michelin Star. Step away Gordon Ramsay.

As they eat they chat about anything and everything. Childhoods and friends, and first teachers, favorite subjects. Pete talks about his writing, and Patrick talks about his big career change, and they both feel so relaxed, so safe around each other.

Patrick can’t believe some of the things coming out of his mouth. Things he has never said. While he stays away from talking about past relationships, on the inside cheering like a little girl that it hasn’t come up yet, he is certain that if it was any other person on the planet, he would be heavily judged. Pete understands it all. Or at least, he pretends to understand it all, and he does a great job at hiding the need to talk back at Patrick’s statements.

As Pete serves desert, Patrick realizes that he no longer feels tired. Talking to Pete in the early morning hours of Valentines Day, has given him the biggest energy boost he has ever experienced. It’s like he has taken some drugs. Pete is his drug.

Oh, dammit. Patrick, just stop it. We’ve been over this. No cheesiness yet. It’s too early for that.

“So, I’ve been reading your book,” Patrick finally says the sentence he imagines Pete’s been waiting to hear all night.

“Please be gentle.”

“No, it’s good. I’m about thirty pages into it, and it’s far too early to tell, but I’m loving it so far. I love the voice you use, it’s really developed and mature,” Patrick speaks, catching himself using words he’s read in fancy lit reviewing magazines.

“Completely opposite of how I am in real life,” Pete jokes, causing a small smile on Patrick’s face which he tries to hide by looking down at the crumbs left from piece of cheesecake that was in front of him several minutes ago, “I feel a ‘but’ coming,” Pete then adds.

“There’s no ‘but’ coming.”

“Huh. I’m almost never wrong when it comes to ‘but’s. Yours is still looking fine, by the way,” Pete says, and Patrick squints his eyes at the remark.

“That’s a very bad pun,” Patrick smiles at him.

“I know. I tried,” Pete says, seconding his words with a chuckle.

After a small pause which Patrick uses to find a polite way to put things he says, “I should get going. Got an early day and everything,” and Pete offers to call for a cab.

 

*

 

It was very thoughtful of Pete to insist on waiting with Patrick till his cab came. And the cab was running a little late.

They we’re standing on the sidewalk in front of Joe’s house for about five minutes, hoping that the cab will arrive soon. It’s not that Patrick was rushing to get home, on the contrary. It was just that the night had to end somehow. And Patrick preferred it end before it got awkward.

They were trying to make the best out of the situation, having the last lines of the conversation they started with desert, discussing books and movies, their favorite genres, so on. There wasn’t anything that could spoil their night, Patrick thought.

But he was very, very wrong.

“I be damned, Patrick Stump himself, out long past midnight,” he hears the words clearly coming from behind his back.

He only wishes the voice wasn’t familiar to him, he wishes that he stumbled into anyone but this person. He didn’t manage to slip the subject of ‘Jesse’ in the casual conversation he was having with Pete.

What has Patrick done for the universe to constantly screw him over like this? Why karma, WHY? He’s been dreading such moment and now it happened, when he least needs it.

Petrified of what’s about to happen, Patrick knows he can’t ignore the statement, no matter he bad he wants to. Jesse is right behind him. Pete is on the other side. It’s like he’s trapped between his past and his future. He just hoped that his future wouldn’t have to deal with his past this early, not in the present.

He now regrets that he didn’t tell Pete about that. Because after whatever’s going to happen here, he’s going to have a lot to explain to Pete. It can’t go well. Jesse is an asshole by nature. It just took a lot of time for Patrick to finally see it.

Both Patrick and Pete turn towards the man; it’s the first time Patrick lays his eyes on Jesse since the day he was kicked out of the apartment along with the cat. Jesse’s suited up, a blood red tie, hair slicked back. All of a sudden, Patrick decides that Jesse isn’t attractive at all. Matter of fact, he never was. Patrick wonders what it was that made him fall in love with Jesse, it’s like he was heavily sedated during the course of their relationship.

“Jesse,” the name slips through Patrick’s lips with a sigh. There’s bitterness in Patrick’s voice, he surprises himself by showing such an emotions. He tends to take what comes his way, and he never fights back. He’s used to anger, bitterness and sadness staying on the inside, eating him up. Never shown.

“Tricky…” Jesse smiles, flashing perfectly white teeth, bleached few too many times, all out of Patrick’s pocket. Patrick is amazed that it took him so long to see Jesse for what he truly is, “And who must this be?”

“I’m…” Pete starts talking, which doesn’t last long.

“You look very familiar to me…” Jesse interrupts him.

“I can’t imagine why,” Pete returns, an attempt to come off as harsh as the stranger in front of him.

“I have seen you somewhere,” Jesse narrows his eyes, trying to remember; “It’ll come to me.”

“I’m sure it will,” Pete responds.

“First date?” Jesse asks, looking at Patrick with a smile on his face.

“First official date,” Patrick answers, letting himself fight back to the mocking tone Jesse’s using.

“So, you’re the next, huh?” Jesse turns to Pete again.

“No, no, I’m the current,” Pete says, and Patrick’s heart tries to jump out of his chest as that statement is made. Pete is helping him big time, Patrick can’t help but love that, “Which would make you the ex, I suppose?”

“Yeah…” Jesse fakes a smile, “You know he used to be a broker back then? He owns a coffee shop now.”

“Best coffee ever,” Pete says, continuing the protective attitude towards Patrick.

“Anthony here with you or are you sleeping with a neighbor behind his back too?” Patrick asks, Pete’s attitude rubbing off on him big time.

“Come on Tricky, you know grudges can kill,” Jesse tries to pull his puppy dog eyes. If this was four months ago, Patrick would’ve fallen for it

“It’s what I’m hoping for,” he says.

“If I had known, we would’ve made it a double date,” Jesse oversteps another one of the boundaries Patrick’s set up in his mind.

“No, no we wouldn’t have,” Patrick says again, unable to believe the sassiness coming out of his mouth.

“Too bad I gotta go,” Jessie says, looking at the watch on is wrist, a gift from Patrick, matter of fact, “Bye Tricky, see you soon.”

“I hope not,” Patrick says and watches as his ex starts walking away. He feels relieved that the exchange is over. Still watching as Jesse walks further and further away, Patrick begins feeling relaxed again. But then Jesse turns around.

“I remember!” Jesse exclaims, “The party at Ryan’s for Labor day. You were staring at him from across the room, obviously interested. I saw you and made us leave.”

WHAT? That’s where… that’s how… the guy from the blog… description similar to Patrick’s…. WHAT?

Shock is everything Patrick can feel, but he picks himself up for one last reply.

“Take care Jesse,” Patrick says again. He waits till he is out of sight before he turns towards Pete. The pieces are falling into place, Pete is no longer a puzzle, rather a pretty picture, and Patrick is mad that something of such importance was hidden from him, “You know me from before. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“How was I supposed to say it, Patrick? ‘Hey I saw you at this party months ago, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you, I’m so glad I finally found you’. How does that make me sound?” Pete protests, but then stops himself from turning it into a fight. He is wrong this time, “I’m sorry, okay, I should’ve said something, you’re right.”

“You’re the blogger.”

“Yeah,” Pete sighs.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake Pete, why didn’t you…” Patrick’s frustration is evident in his tone.

“Not a lot of people know that about me, you’re like the third person that knows that I write that blog,” Pete begins explaining, calmness in his voice to minimize the tension.

“I’m not gonna tell anyone.”

“I know, I trust you.”

“I… I’m not a fan of lies, Pete, I’ve been screwed over a couple of times. Starting whatever this is with one, I don’t think that’s possible,” Patrick’s anger is building up. He wanted to have ‘things’ happen with Pete. This was their first date, and he imagined so many more. This is not how things were supposed to play out. Patrick was supposed to get his happy ending. Where the fuck is his happy ending?

And sure, it seems as if he’s getting upset over nothing, but that is really Jesse’s fault. He is simply afraid of that situation repeating itself. Patrick doesn’t want to make the same mistake, to trust someone so blindly and to have them use that trust. No more liars, he had promised himself that he won’t get his heart broken again, that he won’t fall in love so stupidly.

But then Pete happened. And now Pete has a secret, uncovered, a big one while we’re at it. And now Patrick doesn’t know what to think.

“I should’ve told you about the blog, I’m sorry, I really am,” Pete says to him.

“What? No!”

“No?” Pete looks at Patrick, the question all over his facial expression.

“The blog is your own personal thing, an outlet maybe, I don’t know how to put it. I have no right to meddle with that. You should’ve told me about the party Pete, that you saw me, that you were… I should’ve known from the beginning,” Patrick speaks then stops, trying to find a decent way to explain his feelings, “Now I feel like I’ve been left out, like I’ve been lied to.”

“Patrick, I’m sorry. Tell me how to fix this.”

“I…” Patrick mouths, feeling as all the anger is leaving his body, and he’s finally in an almost calm headspace. He’s now feeling just a bit disappointed. And he realizes that Jesse got what he wanted, once again.

“There must be something,” Pete insists.

“Can you give me a couple of days to process all of this? Figure myself out.”

“Yeah, yes,” Pete offers a nod, “I’m really sorry.”

“So am I.”

They both feel that the air between them no longer guards the tension that was previously present. It much calmer now, however it is awkward for the both of them, very awkward.

The night wasn’t supposed to go like this, to end like this. It was supposed to be a well planned shindig that was going to go smoothly, and it was going to be perfectly romantic, and they were going to have fun. Which they did. But then, Jesse happened. Patrick regrets Jesse ever happening. To him, last year. Tonight. He screwed it up. Jesse continuously screws Patrick up, and he needs to stop letting him.

When the cab arrives, a minute later, ‘bye’ and ‘see ya’ is everything that is said. Then Patrick gets in, dictates his address to the driver, and breaths out all the destructive and pessimistic thoughts that he stacked in a nice pile in the last several minutes.

Patrick checks his phone multiple times, stares through the window, even attempts a small conversation with the driver, anything to take his mind off the events. Nothing helps.

And as the taxi pulls up in front of his apartment building, Patrick decides that the only thing he needs, beside the previously mentioned time, is a cuddle from his cat.

 

*

 

He couldn’t sleep. Patrick, the sleep addict, couldn’t even close his eyes for a period longer than three minutes. So he spent the night lying on his back, eyes on the ceiling, and a comatose cat next to his left hip. Thinking, rethinking, over thinking, self-evaluating… drawing conclusions, making decisions.

The first thing Patrick figured out is that he must stop thinking about Jesse so much, he must stop giving him priority and letting those insecurities take over his life. Because those same insecurities are now stopping him from enjoying what could potentially be a great relationship with Pete.

He then concludes that a relationship with Pete at this point is inevitable. Though he’s going to spend his sweet time coping with the fact that Pete could’ve saved him from Jesse months ago, and that everything about their relationship will probably end up on the internet, as if they are a celebrity couple, but the probability of Pete’s blog being the source is much higher. Matter of fact, it’s the only choice.

The root of Patrick’s disappointment is that Pete didn’t tell him about the party. The problem is that Pete didn’t say anything at all, he didn’t even hint at such a thing. Patrick has had enough of people not telling him anything. And he is afraid that it will be that way once they actually begin dating, that nothing will change.

The second problem is that Pete likes him, a lot that is. The problem is that Pete likes him more that Patrick likes himself. The problem is that Pete compared him to Petrarch’s Laura, and that Patrick doesn’t see himself worthy of such poetry.

Patrick’s insecurities don’t allow him to see himself the way Pete sees him.

That is the biggest problem that kept him up all night.

 

*

 

When his alarm clock goes off, Patrick glides out of bed, carefully so he wouldn’t wake Mario up. He slides on his slippers, yet to be warm around his feet.

He doesn’t feel like doing anything, he’s exhausted from the night before, from the surprises that popped out, from the thoughts, from the decisions. He would kill for a day off, which he would use for a great day-worth of deep sleep.

When he walks out of his room, it’s the same image that has been for the last several days. The couch where Josh sleeps is fluffed and the sheets and blankets he used are all stacked in a pile that’s topped with the pillow that used to be on the other side of Patrick’s king bed. And Josh is in the kitchen once again, making breakfast, the smell of fresh coffee and the sound of sizzling bacon take over Patrick’s senses. He looks at Josh squeezing fresh orange juice and realizes how thirsty he actually is.

“Good morning,” Patrick says.

“Morning,” Josh greets him back with his usual tone, always so serious but somehow happy, “How did last night go?” he asks right away, before even looking at Patrick.

“It was okay,” Patrick responds as he sits down on one of the stools set for the kitchen counter.

“What happened?” Josh asks as soon as his eyes land on Patrick’s face, “You look like you haven’t slept for a week.”

“I couldn’t fall asleep last night,” Patrick replies. He contemplates telling Josh everything, allowing the weight of the recent events to escape, or at least to minimize. But he chooses the short version instead, considering ‘everything’ would mean sharing Pete’s secret, which he has decided that he won’t do, “I stumbled onto my ex as I was leaving the date,” he says. Not really a lie, he was leaving. He wasn’t alone though. But all the parts that involve Pete are to be left out, “He said some things and…” definitely not a lie, “They’ve been bothering me,” truth, “so I couldn’t sleep.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s nothing you should be sorry for.”

“Still…” Josh offers a soothing smile, “I’d be really pissed off if that happened to me. And Brendon said this was your first date since you and your ex broke up...”

“Brendon talks too much,” Patrick interrupts him for a comment everyone who met Brendon would make.

“Yes, he does,” Josh rolls his eyes, “It’s just a horrible thing to have happen to someone, anyone. And I’m sorry it happened to you.”

“I’ll be okay,” Patrick smiles shortly, then takes a deep breath, “I should take a shower and get ready.”

“For what?”

“Work?” Patrick arcs an eyebrow, wondering what Josh is thinking. It’s Valentine’s Day, it’s not a national holiday.

“Yeah… NO. You stayed up all night, you can’t work all of today,” Josh sounds quite decisive.

“Someone has to. I gave everyone else the afternoon off. It can’t be just you, all day long,” Patrick protests.

He can’t allow for Josh to try and tackle all the responsibilities of the day on his own. If it was last month, when the café was somewhat busy, sure. But now there’s a constant mob of people, thanks to Pete who turned out to be one of the most read bloggers in the whole country.

“Look,” Josh sighs, taking a moment to actually come up with a plan, “While you shower, I’ll call the guys and see who can stay the afternoon. I’ll get someone, don’t worry.”

Patrick does as he’s suggested. He lets Josh handle it, for the second time since he opened the coffee house he lets someone else take care of something he usually would be in charge of. The first time was Brendon and the decorations, just a week ago. It all started changing when Pete came into his life.

When he gets back to the living room, a served breakfast on the kitchen counter, he finds out that he has nothing to worry about. The newlyweds have agreed to come stay two hours extra, and Andy settled for the afternoon shift, with a pass to leave around seven. And apparently Tyler used to work at a supermarket, so he offered to work the register all day, when he stopped by to borrow sugar. He will help Josh open and the café. And Patrick can take the day for himself and show up somewhere around five.

Josh is still Patrick’s favorite.

 

*

 

The coffee shop is seeing its first day of work without Patrick there. Sure, it has happened for him to leave for a couple of hours to run errands, or visit his mom, but this is the first time that he didn’t show up at all.

No one’s complaining that they’re at work, even though it was supposed to be their day off. Not even Brendon, who usually complains about everything. This time, the guys are happy to help out. Patrick has helped them all, in one way or another, they have no problem with returning the favor.

As promised, Tyler is running the register, something that Patrick usually does. He learned his way around it within minutes, surprising everyone. Guess he didn’t lie when he said that he used to work in a supermarket, just so he can stare at Josh all day.

Speaking of Josh, he is doing everything he can to help. While Brendon and Mikey who are on their best behavior today, helping customers in record speed, considering the café is busier than ever, he restocks everything that might need it, works at the baked goods stand, and manages to slip in few orders here and there.

The duo of the hour is incredibly efficient. Both of them are quite cheerful, mingling with the customers to earn tips, and yes, Mikey once again is wearing a turtleneck to cover up Brendon’s works of art. But then again, Brendon is wearing the scarf Mikey borrowed from the ‘lost and found’ few days ago. No arguments have been started, no picking on each other has been done. Only few pick up lines here and there, Brendon’s attempts to make Mikey blush.

Few meters away, just like Josh’s, Andy’s working hours so far have also been spent multitasking all over the shop. He clears up the freshly emptied tables for the next customers who might be interested in sitting down, he swept the floor, and he put back the books and magazines that were left behind by the people who were looking through them. And on top of all those chores he took on himself, Andy also helps when he can, wherever he can. Whether it’s about refills, or helping Josh by restocking something, while he makes a batch of French Press…

They’re all doing the best they can without their leader. And they all hope that they never have to do such a thing again. They need Patrick to be well, because he does almost everything, and never complains. And they, they barely walked the mile in his shoes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't get mad at me. For what just happened, for the awkwardly written moments, or for changing 6 to 7. Number 7 is going to be the epilogue, a short one, and I won't make you wait a week for it, promise. And the rest, well, I don't have an excuse. Anyway... Don't get mad.


	6. Part Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year!! I wish you happiness and love, and that you reach your goals this year.
> 
> Enjoy the chapter loves. Epilogue tomorrow... hopefully.

  


Four days after the date, Patrick is back to work as normal. He tries his best to keep pretending that everything is fine, but day three of no one seeing Pete in the café, the guys become suspicious. And Patrick can only lie and say that Pete is too busy with the book promotion to stop by for a cup of whatever so he can flirt with Patrick for so long.

On day two since the date, Mikey asked, very politely, very casually, where Pete was. When Patrick said that Pete’s busy, he just left it at that. On day three, Brendon stuck his nose in the subject, demanded it loudly and clearly, as if it was his God-given right to know. When Patrick said that Pete’s busy, he sarcastically mouthed ‘sure’ and then he walked away.

Today, Andy is the one that brings it up. And then everyone gathers to listen and chip in.

Patrick is serving customers when his friends start behaving as detectives, doing nothing else except their job. He has a large order of six completely different coffees, and luckily, they had just restocked the front, so he has everything he needs to make them. Otherwise, the time needed to prepare the order would’ve doubled.

“Why aren’t you talking to Pete,” Andy asks through a whisper, so no one can join in. He stands right next to Patrick, helping him finish faster by working the espresso machine. But Brendon and his werewolf hearing take notice, though he’s a few feet away from them.

“What happened with you two?” Brendon asks another question.

“It’s nothing,” Patrick says, “And even if it was something, I can’t tell you.”

“Did he do something?” Mikey chips into the discussion.

Right away Patrick wishes that they’d just drop it. He wishes he could just go back to work, or at least that his order contained a drink that would involve the blender. But it doesn’t. And he knows the people around him well enough to know that they won’t just leave the subject as it is.

“No, it’s not that,” Patrick says, hoping it helps dismiss it quicker. But it won’t, cause it never does.

“What is it then?” Brendon asks again.

“I really can’t tell you,” Patrick insists, not raising his eyes from the Styrofoam cups in front of him. He’s just trying to get the order right, why is everyone on his case?

“Or you don’t want to,” Mikey continues the interrogation his other half began.

“I can’t,” Patrick’s voice is on the verge of yelling.

“Guys, don’t push,” Josh meddles in, “It's between them. Your asking him to share someone else’s secret, you can’t do that.”

“You know?” Patrick looks at Josh, surprise on his face. He didn’t mention anything like that to Josh. How does he know?

“Yes, Pete told me,” Josh says.

After a sigh, Patrick decides to explain, in less words.

”It’s a small misunderstanding, we’re going to get over it,” Patrick says, feeling his voice become more dramatic, “Until then, will everyone just let me breathe? Please?”

“Okay, sorry,” Andy agrees, extending his arm and giving Patrick a squeeze on the shoulder.

“Thank you.”

“So,” Brendon raises an eyebrow.

“So?”

“If Joshua knows the real deal, does anyone else know?” Brendon asks.

“How would I know that?” Patrick doesn’t do it on purpose, but the annoyance is evident in his demeanor.

“Tyler knows, he was with me when I stumbled onto Pete,” Josh interrupts.

“Where did you stumble onto Pete?” Patrick’s curiosity gets the best of him.

“He was coming out of the book shop next door, and I was coming out of work, Tyler was waiting for me. I mentioned that we haven’t seen him in a while, and he told me what happened,” Josh explains.

“So what happened?” Mikey asks.

“I’m not telling anyone.”

“Why, Josh! Not even to me? Your best friend,” Brendon tries to use his puppy eyes.

“No, not even you,” Josh shrugs, containing a smirk as a response to the epithet Brendon used for himself.

“But you admit that I’m your best friend,” Brendon has a satisfied smirk on his face, and his rushing to hug Josh almost makes Patrick drop the order.

“I don’t see anyone battling you for that position,” Josh replies, trapped in Brendon’s arms.

“Tyler might want to join the fight,” Mikey reminds him, a smirk on his face.

 

*

 

A week since Patrick and Pete stopped talking, Patrick gets a call from him. His phone goes off few minutes after eleven pm, and not a lot of new customers are coming in, enough for Brendon and Andy to handle on their own, so he allows himself to answer it. Only, it isn’t Pete.

“Patrick?” an unfamiliar voice asks, and Patrick suddenly goes through all the horrible scenarios in his head. It's obvious that something happened. He just doesn’t know exactly what.

“Yes, who is this?” Patrick is now certain that Pete was kidnapped.

“Hi, I’m Joe. I’m Pete’s friend, Andy’s… friend also,” Joe introduces himself. Oh. Well. Paranoia.

“Hi,” Patrick’s relief is hidden behind a sigh.

“Um, this is awkward, so I’m just gonna come out and say it. Pete’s really drunk, and he’s asking for you, and he refuses to eat or go to bed if he doesn’t see you, so I’m calling to ask if you can maybe stop by,” Joe says, taking a small pause to catch his breath. Patrick’s mind immediately screams a ‘no’ but as he thinks about it, ‘yes’ seems like a better idea. Not just because it means helping Pete. Because it means also helping Joe with Pete, and he doesn’t want to be a dick to Andy’s future something, “He has a book signing tomorrow, I really need to get him sobered up by morning. I understand if you can’t make it, I know you’re still at work… or maybe you don’t want to, cause of what happened with you two. I just had to ask.”

“No, it’s okay,” Patrick tries to sound calm and hide his nervousness, “Just text me address, I’ll be there in about an hour tops.”

“I will, right away,” Joe replies, “Thank you.”

 

*

 

Patrick constantly surprised himself since the moment Pete first walked into the coffee shop. He’s been doing things he never thought he’d do, like inviting a complete stranger to stay in his home; he’s been coming out of his comfort zone, like the date he had with Pete; and he’s beginning to trust others with responsibilities he’s taken on himself just so he won’t bother anyone.

Now, he is doing yet another thing he never thought he’d do. He’s rushing all across town towards his potential boyfriend, while at the same time he’s helping a potential friend. Back in the day, Patrick didn’t really like the word ‘potential’, it was all about ‘certain’ then.

It’s past midnight, and Patrick is ringing the bell of an apartment he’s never entered before. Pete’s place. The thought that freaked him out so much just a week ago. Now? Now he’s only worried about Pete.

The face that answers the door isn’t exactly a stranger, so he doesn’t make Patrick as uncomfortable as he thought he would.

“Hi,” Patrick says.

“Hi,” Joe offers a short smile as he walks back to let Patrick enter. He then introduces himself, officially, as they are face-to-face for the first time, “I’m Joe.”

“Patrick,” he introduces himself, accepting the handshake Joe offered.

“I’m really sorry to bother you like this. It’s just that he’s been drinking all day, apparently,” Joe explains what happened as he closes the door. He then points Patrick to one of the rooms, “And he’s been talking about you since I brought him home. I had to at least ask you if you could come,” Joe speaks, walking towards the room he previously pointed out. Patrick of course follows him in that direction.

“It’s really okay, honestly,” Patrick insists.

The room they enter is a home library. Pete’s has books all over the apartment, from what Patrick could see, but the walls of this room are covered in shelves, and those shelves are overflowing with books. Patrick falls in love with the room right away.

Pete is sitting on the one of the two reclining chairs that are set up in the space, an end table with a lamp right next to him. The chair is turned towards the window, it’s where Pete’s attention is focused at.

“Pete, Patrick is here,” Joe announces, and a smiling, bubbly Pete turns and raises his eyes on them.

“My Laura has arrived. Or maybe I’m Laura and he’s Francesco… I’m the damsel, he’s the prince,” Pete begins speaking, speech just slightly slurred, “Yeah… I like that better.”

“Of course you do,” Patrick smiles back at him.

“He rambles a lot,” Joe whispers to Patrick.

“In my experience, everyone rambles when drunk,” he replies. Patrick sure as hell knows that he rambles when drunk.

“Mr. Boss-man Joe, can we get some privacy?” Pete asks, before beginning to blink continually, an attempt at making the puppy-eye facial expression, which Patrick finds hilarious.

“Um… Patrick?” Joe looks at Patrick for permission, to which Patrick nods, “Okay then. I’ll be in the kitchen, preparing some greasy food. Be loud if you need anything, or if you just get sick of him,” Joe smiles, pointing at Pete.

“I will,” Patrick assures him.

“You won’t get sick of me,” Pete says as soon as Joe leaves the room, “I’m incredibly fun tonight. Everything is funny tonight,” he giggles, “Pattycakes, wanna hear a joke?”

“Sure?” Patrick shrugs.

“Do you speak Spanish?”

“A little,” Patrick says, and Pete starts laughing, “Was that the joke? Cause it wasn’t funny.”

“This is the joke, it’s really funny,” Pete says and clears his throat, “Knock, knock.”

“Who’s there?” Patrick asks, unable to get rid of the smile on his face.

“Un avocado,” Pete says and begins chuckling, audible laughter filling the apartment.

“It’s not that funny…” Patrick says, which causes Pete to make an angry face.

“You don’t get it!”

“I get it, avocado-abogado. It’s not funny,” Patrick says again, “You should workshop it, maybe.”

“Well… write drunk, edit sober,” Pete seconds it with a shrug, “Hemingway said that… I think. Or it might have been that other egoist,” Pete laughs again, this time a bit of bitterness in his voice.

“I see you finally got that drinking problem you wanted,” Patrick speaks.

“Yes. And it’s beautiful, I gotta say.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Okay, it isn’t,” Pete smiles weakly. He turns the chair away from the window, and he then sits back into it.

“Why did you drink all day long?” Patrick dares ask another question. It seems as an easy question at the beginning, but then it goes unanswered for several moments and it becomes evident what Patrick has asked.

“I don’t know,” Pete finally says, “It was just easier that way. It was helping me not think about how I let you down. And then, all of a sudden, all I could think about was how I let you down, and how I just wanted to make it okay,” Pete adds, making Patrick’s heart sink, “And how I didn’t even kiss you, Pattycakes, why didn’t I kiss you. I really wanna kiss you.”

“How about this?” Patrick begins a suggestion he can’t believe he’s making. He is suddenly extremely aware of the fact that the way he sounds is as if he’s talking to a small child, bribing him into obedience. But then there’s the reward, “You take whatever hangover remedy Joe prepares, then you go to sleep. And then tomorrow, after your signing, you stop by the café. We’ll talk some more, and maybe I’ll let you kiss me, if you behave.”

“Okay,” Pete says, a smile on his face.

Before he leaves, Patrick asks Joe to remind Pete that he’s supposed to show up at the after the signing. After all, he has yet to find out if Pete forgets the things that happen while he’s drunk.

 

*

 

It looks like a normal day in Patrick’s coffee house. The coffee still is the best in Chicago. There still are a bit too many customers. It still is warm inside, despite the amount of times the door has opened to let in customers and cold air. The Wi-Fi still is fast and stable. And there still are only three chick-lit books on the bookshelf in the corner.

But it’s not a normal day. There is one small detail. Everyone, all the employees in Robusta Café are happy today, that’s the only anomaly.

And even though they all want to take a day to celebrate and enjoy the happiness, they all are doing their job. Josh, for example, is serving a very important customer. Today he is in charge of the area in front of the small corner of the counter, the one near the door.

“There’s this exhibit at a gallery downtown that I love;” Tyler is making small talk with Josh, “it’s made out of small sculptures that are actually a puzzle. And at first you’re wondering how could that be the case, but then you see it, and you put it together and boom, you get a picture. It’s fascinating.”

“That sounds awesome,” Josh agrees, as he adds the chocolate syrup into Tyler’s large mocha.

“It is.”

“We should see it together,” Josh suggests, hoping that he doesn’t have to explain afterwards that he’s asking Tyler out on a date, “Friday?”

“Sounds good,” Tyler immediately replies, failing to disguise his excitement.

“No exams this week?”

“None,” he then offers a smile.

“Good. Dinner afterwards?” Josh is now oozing ‘this is a date’ vibes.

“Yes. Definitely,” Tyler nods.

“Awesome,” Josh chirps, “I’ll pick you up around seven,” he adds as he leaves the Styrofoam cup in front of Tyler.

“You know where I live.”

“I sure do neighbor. Enjoy your coffee,” Josh follows the statement with a wink.

“I will,” Tyler smiles one last time before he turns around and heads towards the door.

As always, Patrick is all over the place. But at the half point of the counter stands Andy. And Andy got some information before bed last night, information that he wants clarified. So he corners Patrick while he’s preparing a cup of Noisette.

“So, you and Pete are working it out?” Andy raises an eyebrow, a small smirk across is lips.

“Yes,” Patrick says happily, before deciding to minimize the confidence at least a little, “Maybe. I think so. We’ll see,” he corrects himself before adding, “He’s supposed come in after the signing.”

“You arranged the date last night?” Andy asks, then watches Patrick as he nods, “Sure he’ll show up?”

“He’ll come, I’m sure.”

“If he remembers,” Andy jokes, raising both hands and crossing his fingers

“Come on, Andy. Let me have high hopes,” Patrick fakes a dramatic voice.

“Did I just interrupt the extremely long period of high hopes you’ve been having,” Andy continues the joke.

“As a matter of fact, yes. Stop being my conscience.”

“No,” Andy smiles.

“Fine. I gotta restock the coffee beans, excuse me,” Patrick says, walking away from Andy, “Hey guys,” he greets Gerard and Frank who are sitting on the counter, right in front of Mikey’s tip jar, at the inner end of the counter. They are here this morning only to aggravate him until he snaps, mostly by poking fun at how he has Brendon now, how he’s in love, and how both their heads are on cloud nine.

“So, where’s your future husband?” Frank asks Mikey, smirking behind his coffee mug.

“He’s sweeping upstairs. He’ll be down in a minute,” Mikey answers without looking up.

“Does he know that you already have planned what you matching tattoos will be?” Gerard continues the teasing campaign he and Frank have set up against his little brother.

“Never again. I’m never making the tattoo mistake again. Removing that whole mess hurts far too much,” Mikey states.

“So what do you have planned?” Frank lightly pokes Mikey in the arm, and Mikey almost spills the French pressed he’s pouring for another customer, “Did you find a nice tree in the park where you can engrave your initials? ‘M&B 4eva’ sounds about right?”

“Now you’re just making fun of yourself Frank,” Mikey says, “You two have actually done that,” he adds and points at his brother and his brother-in-law. Mikey walks few steps away to serve the customer and take another order, but he doesn’t fail to keep a watch on his guests.

“Having a slow day there dumb-dumb?” Gerard whispers to his husband.

“You love it when I’m a dumb-dumb,” Frank responds, leaning in for a smooch.

Seeing the situation, Mikey decides to reciprocate, so he faces the upstairs and shouts, “Bren, can you please come and help me make my brother uncomfortable.”

“I’ll be right there, babe,” Brendon returns, loud enough for everyone to hear, in usual Brendon fashion.

 

*

 

The signing was supposed to end at two, Patrick knows this; Joe mentioned it when he was walking him out the previous night. That’s why Patrick’s been a little on edge since three o’clock. He thought Pete would show up by then. He thought that Pete would remember.

Pete does remember, he just shows up late. He comes in at four fifteen, and by surprise, the crowd hasn’t dialed down yet. When Patrick spots him, his mood lifts up. He hurries with getting the orders that are flying towards him done, up until the point he manages to get to Pete.

“Hi,” Pete greets him, trying to make it anything but awkward.

“What can I get you?” Patrick asks him, his lips quirked into a soft smile.

“Surprise me,” Pete says surely.

“Want some booze in the drink?” Patrick jokes.

“No,” Pete says, biting his lips to hold back a smile, “I’m staying away from Irish things for a while.”

“Meet me upstairs, our place?” Patrick suggests, letting the possessive determiner float in the air along with the scent of fresh coffee. ‘Our’ sounds really nice.

“Sure,” Pete nods and heads towards the stair, “Hey guys!” he waves towards the baristas.

“Hi Pete,” Brendon greets him back, “Glad to see you.”

“Glad to see Mikey hasn’t bitten your head off yet.” Pete responds.

“I will soon,” Mikey replies and winks, earning a nudge from Brendon’s elbow in his side.

Pete secures his and Patrick’s place upstairs, and Patrick and the gang work fast to satisfy all customers. About half an hour later, there isn’t a mob of people in the café, just a three to four people at a time and Brendon and Andy manage to handle it. After seeing Mikey and Josh off, Patrick prepares two cups of Café con Leche and then heads upstairs.

For the first time since meeting Pete, Patrick knows exactly what to say to him. He has his mind made up. Only Pete has no idea how made up Patrick’s mind it.

Patrick hasn’t even managed to put the mugs on the table before Pete says “I’m sorry about last night.”

“It happens to the best of us,” Patrick shrugs after finally setting the ceramic mugs down. He then sits down on the sofa, taking his rightful place right next to Pete.

“And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the party… and the crush.”

“I’m sorry I got really mad,” Patrick says, keeping up with the seriousness of the conversation, “It’s just that, I recently realized, I’m actually really insecure because of everything that happened with the asshole you met,” he explains, attempting to make it sound like anything but an excuse.

“Patrick, I’m an asshole too,” Pete smiles and looks at Patrick in disbelief.

“You’re just… I can’t come up with another word,” Patrick’s voice is a mutter as he tries to figure out what to say, “Guess you’re just a different kind,” he finally adds.

“That’s a compliment,” the words leave Pete’s lips like in a flat line.

“Maybe it is.”

“I really wanna kiss you,” Pete says, raising his mug to take a sip of the coffee.

“Do you have somewhere to be?” Patrick asks him.

“No,” Pete shakes his head.

“Then you can wait till the end of this date,” Patrick concludes for his boyfriend.

“Very sneaky of you,” Pete comments, his words hitting the coffee mug that Pete does not let go of.

“Now, how did the book signing go?”

“Swell.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, well, well. Almost at the end. :)


	7. Part Seven: Epilogue

  


Mikey and Brendon

 

“No?” Mikey’s voice is heard throughout the crowded coffee shop, evident anger. He’s right in front of Brendon, kneeling on one knee, a red velvet cupcake with a ring instead of a cherry right on the top.

He spent the last five months saving for the ring, planning this day. And now Brendon has… become even more Brendon. He is basically ruining the perfect plan Mikey has made up.

It all started with the idea of a cupcake from Brendon’s favorite bakery. He then added the coffee shop, where they work, where they met, where they spend their time. He also spent a week trying to make something that will resemble the banner Brendon made when back when he first asked him out. And to top it all, he invited all their friends for a celebration later in the day. What’s scarier, most of those friends are here with them, they’re watching.

“You gotta ask better than that. I can’t just assume the sign is for me,” Brendon replies, pointing to the giant banner, much bigger than the one he had made for Mikey last year, “Not a billion of these references can save you.”

“It has your name on it!” Mikey tries not to be too loud, and disturb the customers that are watching the event as well.

“I’m not the only Brendon on the planet,” he says, following the statement with a shrug.

“You’re the only Brendon I’m dating,” Mikey snaps.

“How can I be sure?”

“Brendon Urie, will you fucking marry me?” Mikey hisses the words out, staring blankly at his boyfriend.

“Now, that is memorable, with the swearword and all,” Brendon continues. Mikey is becoming more furious, and everyone else is either laughing, of they're very worried about the situation.

“Bren!”

“I will marry you,” Brendon smiles, taking the ring from the cupcake, then shoving it in his mouth to lick the frosting off of it.

And so the congratulating begins.

 

 

Josh and Tyler

 

Ever since the sculpture to picture art exhibit, Tyler and Josh have been visiting galleries all over town. Josh never found his own place. He stayed with Patrick for another month, and then he moved into Tyler’s apartment.

It has been a never ending cycle of dates, late breakfasts and early dinners, all night movie marathons, as well as taking every possible opportunity to mock their, at times extremely annoying, friends. Just like they’re doing right now.

They’re sitting at the counter, enjoying, commenting the events that just took place.

“They can’t even get engaged through a calm conversation, it’s all about fights with these two,” Tyler whispers, sparking a smile on Josh’s face.

“Imagine the wedding though,” Josh returns through a whisper too, “A fight breaks out before the altar. The minister tries to interrupt. One of them yells at the minister so they can continue yelling at their spouse.”

“The best marriage ever,” Tyler giggles.

“Yup.”

“So when are you going to ask me to marry you?” Tyler asks, causing Josh to choke on his drink.

“I…” is the only syllable that Josh manages to mutter out, shock is the only emotion he’s able to feel.

“Wow,” Tyler laughs.

“But we agreed…” Josh tries to defend himself.

“What?”

“No proposals before our second anniversary.”

“Good,” Tyler chirps, “I thought you didn’t hear me when I said that.”

“You can be such a behind sometimes,” a sigh escapes Josh’s lips and seconds the statement.

 

 

Andy and Joe

 

Joe and Andy are different story. They’re not thinking about marriage at all. Instead, they’re planning the vacation they’re supposed to take next month.

“That’s over, now where were we?” Joe asks as he and Andy walk back to the counter. He sits on one of the stools, and Andy takes his place behind the counter.

“Still at the suggestions,” he reminds him.

“Hawaii.”

“I didn’t know I was dating a walking cliché,” Andy smiles.

“Have you been to Hawaii?” Joe asks.

“Twice,” Andy replies and he raises his hand, extended pointer and middle finger.

“The Bahamas?” Joe throws another suggestion.

“No,” Andy says again.

“Okay. How about Greece?” Joe throws another suggestion, looking a bit smug about the ‘originality’ of the destination.

“No,” Andy says, shaking his head in disapproval.

“What’s wrong with Greece?” Joe can’t believe what he’s hearing. Greece fits all of Andy’s criteria, he’s pretty certain that it’s a good idea.

“I don’t like Greece. They give shit to that other country,” Andy answers, innocence in his voice.

“I don’t know what I’m more surprised about. That you follow _some_ news, or that you don’t know what country is north of Greece.”

“Puh-lease, I know,” he insists.

“So which one is it?” Joe continues with the smugness.

“Shut up,” Andy pretends he’s Andy in order to hide the embarrassment he’s feeling.

“Wanna go to the country north of Greece?”

 

 

Patrick and Pete

 

Pete popped the question three months after he and Patrick started dating. Patrick didn’t answer for two months. Several weeks after Patrick’s positive answer, he and Pete moved into a big apartment with a huge library.

Their wedding was a medium gathering of fifty people, their closest friends and family only. On the contrary of that, their honeymoon was big and fancy. Patrick’s new step dad organized the shindig, a tour across his native Spain.

Ever since their return, they have been trying to achieve another thing in their relationship. However, this thing isn’t completely up to them, and it isn’t going as smoothly as the imagine.

“I can’t believe they’re making it so hard,” Pete says to Patrick.

“It’ll happen, don’t worry,” Patrick tries to console him, as he always does, “Joe checked all the paperwork we filled out, we filed it right away, it’s a waiting game now. But it’ll happen, I know it will.”

“You think they’d want to help those kids faster, but no, we have to wait months to find out if we are allowed to love a human unconditionally,” Pete speaks, making much sense, as Pete does usually.

“They’re probably just checking our backgrounds, trying to see if we have police records, or maybe debts. Neat-picking,” Patrick continues, “When they see there’s nothing there, they’ll approve.”

“Thank God the book deal allowed me to pay off all my debt. And that almost felonies and warnings don’t go into anyone’s records.”

“What?” Patrick’s shock is obvious.

“Didn’t you have student loans? Were you that lucky?” Pete’s trying to sound offended, which he hopes will help me get out of explaining the slip of his tongue.

“No, not that part. The felonies…”

“Oh, yeah. I almost got caught while publicly urinating once, then there are several ‘almost’s for other indecencies,” Pete explains after he swallows his sip of banana latte, “Therefore…”

“Almost felonies,” Patrick shakes his head, hiding the smirk his lips are quirking into, “And then there’s that one time you got really drunk, and Joe had to drag you home.”

“But then my prince came to my rescue on his white horse,” Pete winks after he speaks.

“Please stop flattering me,” Patrick requests, “I already married you. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do with you or for you anyway.”

“There is that one thing,” Pete reminds him.

“We’ve had this conversation a thousand times. I am not getting rid of the cat. Mario stays,” Patrick sounds quite assertive.

“I want just want a dog, babe,” Pete somewhat pleads.

“Nothing’s stopping us from getting a dog too.”

 

 

The Café

 

Thanks to a quite generous Chicago-based blogger, Robusta Café is always super busy. Even tourists stop by, to see where the blogger stops by for coffee, and to get one themselves. Due to the business, Patrick had to hire two more baristas.

Jack is the only one who got pass the tests Brendon had set up, after fifty people answered Patrick’s add in the paper. Patrick suspect that Jack was hired because of his skills yes, but also because of his constant inappropriate comments and jokes, which everyone kind of likes, but Brendon loves.

The other barista is John, a childhood friend of Hayley’s, Patrick’s coffee bean supplier. He came highly recommended, and has lived up to his reputation. He’s nice to everyone, he’s incredibly fast and efficient, and all the regulars like him.

The coffee house is still really warm and crowded. The Wi-Fi is still stable. The coffee is still the best in Chicago. Everyone is still happy.

The only difference, except for the new employees, is that there are a few more romance and chick-lit books on the shelf in the corner. Apparently being in love does wonders to people. Even Mikey can’t resist a Danielle Steele novel every once in a while.

 

THE END

 

 

P.S. Brendon got a huge wedding, despite Mikey’s protests, and the ceremony ended with them getting matching tattoos. Andy and Joe loved the country north of Greece, they plan on going back. Josh and Tyler are confidently approaching their second anniversary, it's in a couple of weeks, and Josh has been seen window shopping for rings. Pete and Patrick got a golden retriever, a marshmallow of a creature, and they named him King. Ever since they met, Mario sleeps on top of King.

On the 57th day after the 482nd, they got a letter in the mail, informing them that their daughter’s name is Elena, and that she will be theirs in 60 days’ time. She’s the cutest thing ever, and Jack and his silly faces are her favorite thing in the world.

 

 

THE REAL END, NO PPS, SORRY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I have no idea what to work on next, so I’m sad.)

**Author's Note:**

> Direct all questions and prompts to my ask box and I will love you to the moon and back: illbefinealone.tumblr.com


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